Death penalty is a risk for anyone who expresses their opinion on social media networks.
This statement was originally published on gc4hr.org on 20 September 2023.
The rise of Mohammed bin Salman to power as Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia in June 2017 initiated a new era of gross violations of the civil and human rights of human rights defenders, including bloggers, Internet activists and ordinary citizens. Distinguished figures who have influence in various segments of society have been targeted after restrictions on diverse opinions have become a reality in the country, as documented in this appeal by the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR). We are particularly alarmed by the death sentence issued against an online activist and the ongoing enforced disappearance of prominent human rights defenders.
Human rights defender Mohammed Al-Qahtani held incommunicado
GCHR once again expresses its grave concern for the safety and well-being of prominent human rights defender Dr. Mohammed Al-Qahtani, who has been forcibly disappeared by the Saudi authorities for more than 10 months. We call for a strong international response against the authorities’ refusal to disclose any reliable information confirming the whereabouts of Dr. Al-Qahtani.
On 3 September 2023, Dr. Al-Qahtani’s wife, human rights defender Maha Al-Qahtani, wrote a tweet stating, “My husband is still a victim of enforced disappearance for more than 10 months, and we are still suffering from officials ignoring and not responding to our calls, as well as not disclosing the fate of my husband, so we demand that every official who has betrayed his trust and violated his rights be held accountable, and we also demand his immediate release.”
The last time his family heard from him was on 23 October 2022, when he called from Al-Ha’ir Reformatory Prison in Riyadh. He was due for release on 22 November 2022 after serving a 10-year prison sentence. His disappearance comes after his wife filed a complaint on 10 October 2022 with the prison director about her husband being repeatedly assaulted by inmates suffering from mental illnesses who are in the same ward (8a).
Repeated appeals by GCHR and over a dozen partners have previously called for the release of Dr. Al-Qahtani, the co-founder of the Association for Civil and Political Rights in Saudi Arabia (ACPRA), who won the Right Livelihood Award in 2018 for his commitment to promoting human rights and advancing democratic reforms in Saudi Arabia.
9 March 2023 marked the 10th anniversary of his arrest due to his peaceful and legitimate human rights activities.
Human rights defender Issa Al-Nukhaifi held incommunicado
Repeated local reports received by GCHR confirmed that human rights defender Issa Al-Nukhaifi was transferred on 24 October 2022 from Al-Ha’ir Reformatory Prison in Riyadh to an unknown destination, and there is no information about his current whereabouts. It was hoped that he would have been released after he completed his sentence on 18 December 2022.
Al-Nukhaifi is now subjected to enforced disappearance by the Saudi authorities, putting him in the same situation as prominent human rights defender Dr. Al-Qahtani, who was also moved to another prison on the same date. They spent their sentences in wing (8A) of the same prison, and together they went on several hunger strikes to demand their rights and to protest against the ill-treatment they were subjected to.
On 28 February 2018, the Specialised Criminal Court (SCC) sentenced Al-Nukhaifi to six years in prison, to be followed by another six years of travel ban after his release, in addition to preventing him from writing or using social media.
Al-Nukhaifi was charged with “insulting” the authorities and inciting public opinion against the rulers, as well as being in contact with suspected opposition figures. He was also accused of demanding the release of members of banned NGOs – namely the ACPRA. He was charged under the Anti-Cyber Crimes Law in connection with his online activities on social media networks which include his rejection of the war in Yemen, and his support for the hashtag of the Popular Parliament.
Al-Nukhaifi is a community social activist who protested against the government’s policy of displacing families from the Saudi-Yemeni borders for security measures without adequate compensation. On 18 December 2016, the security forces in the Jizan region arrested Al-Nukhaifi after he tweeted on 6 December 2016: “I did not steal trillions, I did not buy a yacht and I did not buy a plane. I do not have a home for my children. I do not have a job after you took my job away and even my payment is late for the rented home so why the summons.”
He was previously released on 6 April 2016 after spending three years and eight months in prison. He was allegedly tortured and placed in solitary confinement after he began a hunger strike to demand justice. He was convicted on charges of defaming the judicial authority, accusing state institutions of failing to perform their duties, participating in sedition by inciting and organising demonstrations, and storing and sending material that would prejudice public order.
Previous reliable reports received by GCHR confirmed that Al-Nukhaifi is being tried with Dr. Al-Qahtani before the Specialised Criminal Court (SCC) in Riyadh. These reports mentioned that neither of them attended two sessions held by this court last May.
There is no confirmed information about what the charges are against them, why they did not appear in court, and why they are being deliberately prevented from communicating with their families or their lawyers.
Forced disappearance of Red Cross worker Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan
On 9 September 2023, human rights defender Areej Al-Sadhan, sister of Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan, a Red Cross worker who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Saudi Arabia for having an anonymous satirical Twitter account, posted the following tweet: “It’s been over 2,000 days! Every day my family and I ask where is Abdulrahman? Is he still in solitary confinement? Will he return to the secret prison? Is he being tortured? Is he alive? This is about the life of my brother and many victims like him who disappeared because of tweeting. #Where is Al-Sadhan?”
Her account on X social media platform (formerly Twitter) contains the following phrases in which she describes herself: “The sister who is proud of her brother, human rights defender Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan, who was forcibly disappeared for more than 5 years at the hands of the Saudi authorities since 12 March 2018.”
Al-Sadhan was sentenced to 20 years in prison during a hearing held on 5 April 2021 by the Specialised Criminal Court (SCC) in Riyadh. The Specialised Criminal Court is a terrorism court that was established by Saudi Arabia in 2008 to try members of terrorist groups, but has since been used to imprison human rights defenders and activists. On 5 October 2021, the Specialised Criminal Court of Appeal upheld the sentence issued against him. On 12 March 2018, Al-Sadhan was arrested at the Saudi Red Crescent Society offices in Riyadh, where he was working as an aid worker.
On 15 September 2023, GCHR also joined ALQST for Human Rights among 16 NGOs in a joint appeal calling on X (formerly Twitter) “to uphold its human rights responsibilities and ensure the safety of its users against state monitoring and surveillance.”
The appeal notes, “In November 2019, two former Twitter employees were charged in the United States with spying for the Saudi authorities by accessing the private data of Saudi dissidents using the platform, a breach believed to have led to the arrest of … Al-Sadhan, among others.” His sister filed a US civil lawsuit against Twitter, accusing the platform of becoming “a tool of transnational repression.”
The joint appeal continues: “After Elon Musk’s take over, the platform has increasingly become an unsafe space for journalists, human rights defenders, and dissidents. According to Twitter’s own released data, the company has complied with the majority of governments’ requests for censorship or surveillance.”
Death penalty a risk for anyone who expresses their opinion on social media networks
GCHR documented the death sentence issued by the Specialised Criminal Court (SCC) in Riyadh on 10 July 2023 against Internet activist Mohammed bin Nasser Al-Ghamdi due to his tweets criticising corruption and human rights violations.
In their joint appeal on 15 September 2023, GCHR and 15 NGOs also called on the Saudi authorities “to overturn Al-Ghamdi’s conviction, end their vicious assault on free speech, and release all those detained for exercising their fundamental freedoms.”
On 15 September 2023, UN experts said in a statement, “Saudi Arabia must immediately revoke the death sentence handed down to Mohammed Al-Ghamdi for his tweets and YouTube activities, as the crackdown on freedom of expression in the country continues to escalate.”
In another separate case, on 10 September 2023, human rights defender Abdullah Al-Aodah posted the following tweet on his account on X (formerly Twitter) about his father, the detained Sheikh Salman Al-Aodah:
“On my father’s trial:
1. The Public Prosecutor demands that my father be killed as a discretionary punishment because of his tweets and various peaceful participations.
2. The trial has been on hold for years and there is nothing new in it, in clear violation of all judicial values and judicial standards.
3. The judges who were hearing the case were arrested, and the Public Prosecution is demanding that they be killed as well, as a punishment for treason!”
Sheikh Al-Aodah was arrested in a political arrest campaign carried out by the Saudi authorities on 10 September 2017, after he published a tweet on his account on X (formerly Twitter) in which he called on God to unite the hearts of the rulers of the region for the good of its people.
GCHR calls on the Saudi authorities to release both Internet activist Mohammed bin Nasser Al-Ghamdi and Sheikh Salman Al-Aodah immediately and unconditionally, and to stop targeting them.
Journalist Ali Mohsen Ahmed Abu Lahoum sentenced to 5 years in prison
On 20 June 2023, the Court of Appeal in Najran amended the initial ruling issued against Yemeni journalist Ali Mohsen Ahmed Abu Lahoum and sentenced him to five years in prison instead of 15 years. The ruling has not yet been finalised due to the Public Prosecution’s objection to the new ruling at the High Court.
His lawyer had submitted a petition to the High Court, which decided to accept it, revoking the initial ruling, and returning the case to the Court of Appeal in Najran for further examination.
The Najran Region Court of Appeal had issued its ruling on 30 December 2022, upholding the initial 15-year prison sentence issued against him by the Criminal Court in Najran.
On 26 October 2021, the Criminal Court in Najran issued a punitive verdict against Abu Lahoum, sentencing him to ten years in prison after convicting him of apostasy and atheism, and another five years in prison for publishing his writings on social media networks that “would prejudice public order, religious values and morals”, as stated in the court’s verdict. For more information on his case, click here.
GCHR strongly condemns the sentence issued against journalist Ali Mohsen Ahmed Abu Lahoum and his sham trial, and calls for his immediate release and the dropping of all false and fabricated charges brought against him.
Journalist Marwan Al-Muraisy released
On 11 April 2023, Tahany Al-Muraisy, the sister of Yemeni journalist Marwan Al-Muraisy, wrote the following tweet on X (formerly Twitter): “Praise be to God, by whose grace good deeds are accomplished… My brother, the Yemeni journalist Marwan Al-Muraisi, leaves bars after the end of his sentence (5 years). He was also deported from the Kingdom, and his Twitter and Facebook accounts were closed.”
On 01 June 2018, security forces arrested security forces arrested Al-Muraisy from his home and transferred him to an unknown location.
Al-Muraisy’s arrest was part of a series of arrests of dozens of influential social figures that included a number of academics, writers, journalists and human rights defenders, including prominent women’s rights activists, since 15 May 2018. The arrests have targeted human rights defenders calling for women to be allowed to drive, and to live free of the guardianship system.
His Twitter account had more than 100,000 followers and was closed. His tweets focused on his areas of expertise, including digital media and human development. He prepared more than 30 television programs, and was a guest on a number of television programs that dealt with technology and social media. Al-Muraisy wrote one book, published in 2014, entitled “Sparrow’s Milk”.
GCHR denounces the targeting of journalist Marwan Al-Muraisy, which included his imprisonment for five years, the closure of his social media accounts, and the confiscation of his right to freedom of expression of his opinions.
Recommendations
GCHR calls on the authorities in Saudi Arabia to:
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- Immediately and unconditionally release Dr. Mohammed Al-Qahtani, Issa Al-Nukhaifi, Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan, Mohammed bin Nasser Al-Ghamdi, Sheikh Salman Al-Aodah and Ali Mohsen Ahmed Abu Lahoum, in addition toall prisoners of conscience;
- While they are in custody, abide by the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Mandela Rules), and provide proper care to maintain their health, and allow them full access to their families;
- Allow prisoners to file complaints for abuse in prison and ensure accountability for those who attack them; and
- Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals.
