Saudi Arabia

Dr. Abdulkarim Al-Khodr, co-founder of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) in Saudi Arabia, is the tenth founding member of ACPRA to be jailed. He was sentenced to ten years in prison and a ten-year travel ban to take effect on completion of his sentence.

Alaa Brinji, 33, a Saudi journalist and blogger has been held without trial or charge for more than a year for still unclear reasons and who is being denied any legal defence.

Thanks to WikiLeaks, Reporters Without Borders is able to expose how Saudi Arabia’s government, which has suppressed all media freedom domestically, tries to co-opt foreign media outlets in order to project a positive image of the kingdom internationally.

Kuwait’s Court of Cassation on June 12, 2015, upheld a six-year sentence for blogger Saleh al-Saeed for tweets criticizing Saudi Arabia.

PEN International continues to call for Badawi’s conviction to be overturned and for his sentence of flogging to be halted immediately.

Waleed Abu al-Khair is serving a 15-year prison sentence in Saudi Arabia for his peaceful criticism of the government and for his work as a human rights advocate.

According to unconfirmed reports, Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Saudi Arabia, may now face a retrial for ‘apostasy’ which could result in the death penalty if he is convicted.

Joint winner of Index on Censorship’s 2015 Freedom of Expression Award for Journalism, Safa Al Ahmad took enormous risks during her regular trips to document the violent protests.

King Abdullah’s reign brought about marginal advances for women but failed to secure the fundamental rights of Saudi citizens to free expression, association, and assembly.

On 9 January 2015, the Saudi government began carrying out a public flogging against blogger Raif Badawi, sentenced to 10 years in jail for his online political activism.

Two more cyber-activists are now behind bars including one who was given another jail term on 3 November, just two days before Raef Badawi, a blogger serving a 10-year jail term, was awarded a press freedom prize.

On 27 October 2014, three lawyers were handed down sentences by the Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh ranging between five to eight years in prison on account of particular tweets shared on their personal Twitter accounts.

Saudi courts have sentenced two Shiite men to death and five others to long prison terms after trials that made a mockery of due process.

The sentencing of news photographer Jassim Mekki A’al Safar is the latest in a recent series of long jail terms for independent information providers in Saudi Arabia.

A Saudi court on July 6, 2014, sentenced the prominent human rights activist Waleed Abu al-Khair to 15 years in prison on charges stemming solely from his peaceful activism.

Fawzan Al-Harbi, activist and co-founder of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association(ACPRA), received a seven-year jail sentence and travel ban on 25 June 2014.