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.
Two UN experts expressed their disappointment at the lack of measures and sanctions by the United States of America on the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, in October 2018, and called for those responsible to impose them sanctions.
The Saudi crown is slowly disabling and killing its most prominent critics by keeping them arbitrarily and in cruel and inhumane conditions in solitary confinement, many of them acquired severe impairments.
Alkarama expresses its concern about the escalation of violations against journalists in the Arab world during the year 2020. According to data published by international organizations concerned with the defense of journalists, including statistics published by the Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists, some 60 journalists and media field workers have been murdered in 2020. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists reports that there are at least 274 journalists behind bars, the highest number recorded by the Committee since the early 1990s.
On 9 December 2020, Alkarama brought to the urgent attention of the UN working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) the continued arbitrary detention of religious scholar Khaled Al-Rashed, since his arrest which occurred on 19 March 2006. Not only his detention has been recognized as arbitrary by the experts of the WGAD in a 2007 decision but also, he has not been released in spite of having served an already unjust sentence of 15-years imprisonment.
