SAUDI ARABIA

Our Concerns

• Consistent pattern of torture and arbitrary detention, including prolonged detention without any legal basis;
• Abusive counter-terrorism measures and heavily flawed trials before the Specialised Criminal Court, often leading to the imposition of the death penalty;
• Severe crackdown on freedom of expression and arbitrary detention of peaceful dissidents, including human rights defenders;
• Grave violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in Yemen.

Upcoming

• October/November 2018: Universal Periodic Review.

Crackdown on freedom of expression in an attempt to consolidate power

Freedom of opinion and expression, a right which has long been limited in Saudi Arabia, has been restricted even more severely in 2017. Since September, Saudi society has witnessed an unprecedented crackdown on freedom of expression, with over 200 public figures, activists, scholars, businessmen and members of the royal family arrested.

“Freedom of opinion and expression, a right which has long been limited in Saudi Arabia, has been restricted even more severely in 2017.”

These arrests came in two large waves, the first of which began in September, and targeted individuals solely because they either disagreed with the crown prince’s policies or failed to publicly display loyalty in the context of the ongoing Gulf crisis. The Saudi Presidency of State Security claimed that it was meant to protect society against “the espionage activities of a group of persons working for foreign agencies against the security, interests, way of life, resources and communal peace of the Kingdom with the aim of stirring up dissent and damaging the fabric of society.”

It was the arrest of well-known Islamic scholar Salman Al Odah on September 9 which marked the beginning of the crackdown. In the context of the Gulf diplomatic crisis, Al Odah was arrested after publishing a post on Twitter to his 14 million followers expressing his support for mediation between the Saudi and Qatari rulers. Alkarama referred his case to the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, along with the cases of writer and legal researcher Abdullah Al Maliki as well as human rights defenders and members of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) Abdulaziz Al Shubaily and Essa Al Hamid.

In early November, a second wave of arrests targeted a large number of media moguls, businessmen and Saudi princes. This purge was later justified by the Saudi authorities under the guise of an anti-corruption campaign to reclaim embezzled funds. According to Mohammed bin Salman, corruption was the main threat to both Saudi’s economic advancement and the realisation of the development agenda for 2030. The government also established a Supreme Anti-Corruption Committee responsible for leading the campaign, which was created only hours before the first arrests were carried out. A majority of political analysts view these arrests as an effort by the Saudi crown prince to neutralise any remaining power centres in the kingdom that could challenge him in what many speculate to be a preparation for the accession to the throne.

Violations of fundamental rights under the pretext of counter-terrorism

audi Arabia continues to use the pretext of countering terrorism to crack down on any peaceful dissenting voices. In order to prosecute human rights defenders and anyone critical of the government or its policies, the authorities have taken several measures such as the establishment of the Specialised Criminal Court in 2008 – a court competent for trying cases of terrorism and state security and known for its systematic violations of fair trial guarantees – and the passing of the first Anti-Terrorism Law in 2014, which criminalises acts of free speech.

“Saudi Arabia continues to use the pretext of countering terrorism to crack down on any peaceful dissenting voices.”

It therefore came as a surprise for many observers of the human rights situation in the country that Saudi Arabia allowed an official visit from Ben Emmerson, who was at the time the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism (SRCT). On April 30, 2017, Emmerson visited Saudi Arabia to assess government initiatives and policies in the area of combating terrorism, as well as how these policies affect the promotion and protection of human rights. During this trip, he visited detention facilities, met with heads and personnel of government institutions and individuals accused and convicted of terrorist crimes. The UN expert’s team was assisted by Alkarama, which provided relevant information on legal shortcomings and numerous cases of human rights violations committed in the context of counter-terrorism.

Among the issues raised by Emmerson in his preliminary findings were the unacceptably broad definition of terrorism, which allows for the criminalisation of peaceful criticism, as well as the practice of torture against terrorist suspects during investigation in order to obtain confessions, the failure to launch effective investigations, and the application of the death penalty following proceedings that fail to comply with international fair trial standards.
Moreover, the UN expert expressed concern over the prosecution and arbitrary detention of human rights defenders under the pretext of the fight against terrorism, and handed the government a list of priority cases for urgent review. Emmerson called for the immediate release of the members of ACPRA as well as blogger Raif Badawi, lawyer Waleed Abu Al Khair and human rights defender Fadhel Al Manasif.

Lastly, the UN expert also drew attention to Saudi Arabia’s extra-territorial counter-terrorism operations, including in Yemen, where airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition forces have caused numerous civilian deaths, and in Syria, where the Saudi authorities support violent armed groups, which are themselves responsible for serious human rights violations, in the fight against the Islamic State

New anti-terrorism law strengthens crackdown on fundamental freedoms

On October 31, 2017, the Saudi Council of Ministers adopted a new law on combating crimes of terrorism and its financing, replacing the already repressive Anti-Terrorism Law of 2014. The Saudi authorities ignored the recommendations made by the SRCT Ben Emmerson following his visit to the country. Indeed, the new law contains the same shortcomings as its predecessor, including its vague definition of terrorism which criminalises peaceful acts of criticism, and its failure to meet international standards of due process and fair trial rights.

Similarly to the 2014 law, the new legislation defines terrorism in vague terms, and does not consider the use of violence as imperative to characterise an act as terrorism. In fact, the definition encompasses a wide array of non-violent acts, including those which “disturb the public order”, “undermine public security” or “destabilise the state or endanger its national unity”. Moreover, in a clear attempt to criminalise peaceful expression and dissent, the law punishes anyone who “directly or indirectly” describes the king or the crown prince “in any way offensive to religion or justice”, punishing such an act with five to ten years in prison. Thus, the new law could be used to criminalise acts of freedom of opinion, expression, peaceful assembly and association.

In addition, several provisions of the law infringe upon international standards of due process and fair trial rights. Firstly, the text grants large discretionary powers to the recently established Presidency of State Security, an all-encompassing security agency which reports directly to the king and which is in charge of matters previously under the authority of the Ministry of Interior. Moreover, the law allows for prolonged custody without charge throughout the investigation, as well as for the use of incommunicado detention. Upon the sole decision of the Public Prosecutor, suspects can be detained without access to the outside world – including their lawyer and family – for up to three months, and held for up to a year without being brought before a judicial authority.

In comparison with the previous 2014 law, the new text includes an entirely new chapter on “punishments” which expands the application of the death penalty and prescribes harsher punishments for acts of freedom of expression deemed to constitute an “apology of terrorism”, which may include an opinion expressed in the media or on social networks.

Lastly, the law provides for the expansion of “counselling centres for de-radicalisation”, which are placed under the direct authority of the President of the State Security, to whom doctors and other staff report directly. This provision restricts the right to movement of individuals deemed as “dangerous subjects”, who could pose a terrorist threat, on the basis of an administrative decision that cannot be appealed. In practice, these centres are used by the authorities to extend the detention of individuals, including human rights defenders and peaceful dissidents, after the completion of their prison sentences.