Articles for Saudi Arabia

Alkarama submitted its report on Saudi Arabia to the Committee against Torture.

On 09 November 2021, Alkarama addressed the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention regarding the situation of Saud  Al Hashimi who has been arbitrarily detained since his arrest by the intelligence services (Mahabith) on 02 February 2007.

Alkarama expresses its shock at the death of Saudi academic Musa Al-Qarni while in detention due to his deteriorating health, after nearly 15 years of detention, despite the publication of a UN resolution confirming the arbitrary nature of his detention along with eight other personalities, including political activist Saud Mukhtar Al-Hashemi, on whose behalf Alkarama wrote to the UN special procedures.

On September 6, 2021, Alkarama seized the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur against Torture regarding the situation of Mohammed AL QAHTANI, human rights defender and founding member of the Saudi Association of civil and political rights (ACPRA), sentenced on March 9, 2013 to ten years in prison and arbitrarily placed in detention in Al Hai'ir prison (Riyadh) in a section reserved for detainees suffering from psychological disorders.

The facts

Saudi human rights sources have reported that human rights defender Issa Al-Nukhaifi went on hunger strike while in detention in Al-Ha'ir prison in Riyadh, without giving details of the reason. However, according to reliable reports, the Saudi authorities have recently increased their repressive measures against prisoners of conscience and human rights defenders.

As part of its ongoing repressive policies against peaceful activists, the Saudi authorities have increased the prison sentence against detained activist Muhammad Abdullah Al-Otaibi, adding three years to his main sentence (for travelling to Qatar in 2017).

On 14 July 2021, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention regarding the current situation of Mr. Suleiman bin Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Al Duwaish, who was arrested on 22 April 2016 by the personal guard of Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Salmane for a series of critical tweets and has been held in incommunicado detention since then.

On 21 June 2021, Alkarama submitted to the UN Committee against Torture the list of issues and questions to be raised in the framework of Saudi Arabia's 3rd periodic review.
A treaty body composed of ten independent experts, the Committee against Torture is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment adopted on 10 December 1984 and ratified by Saudi Arabia on 12 September 1989.

On 19 April 2021, Alkarama was informed that the Working Group on Situations of the Human Rights Council (HRC) complaint procedure(*) decided to dismiss our communication on Saudi Arabia. Pending since 2016, our complaint documented gross human rights violations committed by the Saudi authorities, focusing on the systematic arbitrary detention of peaceful dissidents, including following unfair trials before the Specialised Criminal Court.

On 15 April 2021, Alkarama submitted its report to the UN Secretary-General (UNSG) concerning several cases of reprisals in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Under resolution 12/2 the UN Secretary-General submits an annual report to the Human Rights Council compiling information received on acts of reprisals for cooperation with the UN in the field of human rights. This report brings to light the situation in countries where cooperation with the UN triggers systematic measures of reprisals and intimidations.