Several prominent human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia released after overdue detention time
Front Line Defenders welcomes the release of human right defenders Mohammed al-Qahtani and Issa Al-Nukhaifi some two years after their sentences ended. Nonetheless, the organisation expresses its concern about the inhumane treatment endured by human rights defenders detained in Saudi Arabia, including not receiving adequate medical care, and the use of prolonged detention times, enforced disappearances, and torture as a form of retaliation against those defenders who have completed their sentences.
Mohammed Fahd al-Qahtani is a prominent Saudi human rights defender, academic, and co-founder of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA). The human rights defender was arrested in June 2012 during a wave of arrests of Saudi human rights defenders and activists. He was sentenced to a 10-year prison sentence, followed by a travel ban of an equal length on charges including “breaking allegiance to the ruler” and “questioning the integrity of officials”. The ACPRA was also disbanded by court order.
Issa Al-Nukhaifi is a human rights defender and lawyer who advocates against the government’s policy of forced displacement of persons from the borders between Saudi Arabia and Yemen without adequate compensation. He has also voiced his criticism and protested against Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen. In 2018, he received a 6-year prison sentence. The court also banned him from writing or participating in social media and from travelling outside the Kingdom for six years after his release.
On 15 October 2022 and on 22 November 2022, human rights defenders Issa Al-Nukheifi and Mohammed Fahd al-Qahtani, respectively, were due to be released from prison after completing their 6 and 10-year prison sentences. Despite the completion of these sentences, the human rights defenders continued to be held in detention by prison authorities without any explanation, and were denied access to legal representation. In mid-October 2022, Al-Nukhaifi began an open hunger strike to protest his continued imprisonment and non-release. Instead of addressing his demands, the authorities transferred him to an unknown location, rendering him forcibly disappeared. Mohammad Fahd Al-Qahtani was similarly forcibly disappeared during the same period from the same prison.
While Front Line Defenders welcomes the release of the two human right defenders, as well as the recent release of other human rights defenders from Saudi prisons, including Mohammed Abdulaziz Al-Khudairi, Mohammed Al-Habdan, and Malik Al-Ahmad, who were released at the end of December 2024, the organisation expresses its concern about the inhumane treatment of human rights defenders in detention as well as the forms of retaliation the Saudi authorities have repeatedly used against human rights defenders who have completed their sentences. Such forms of retaliation include extending the human rights defenders’ prison sentences or retrying them to prolong their detention without providing sufficient information or legal assistance.
Even after their release, many human rights defenders who were former detainees remain under severe restrictions, including unlawful travel bans, surveillance, and other measures that curtail their freedoms. This was the case for woman human rights defender Loujain al Hathloul whose travel ban should have been lifted on 12 November 2023 but was instead replaced by an unofficial and indefinite travel ban.
Saudi repression extends far beyond its borders. Human rights defenders living abroad face relentless harassment through cyberattacks, smear campaigns by state-sponsored troll armies, and threats of physical harm. Their families who remain in Saudi Arabia are often targeted as leverage to intimidate and silence the human rights defenders with measures such as unlawful travel bans, administrative sanctions and, in some cases, even imprisonment.
Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in Saudi Arabia to cease the targeting of human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia and abroad and to ensure that they are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions, including judicial harassment.
