ProtectDefenders.eu has been informed about the recent release of human right defenders Mohammed al-Qahtani and Issa Al-Nukhaifi. Their release came only after two years after their sentences ended.
Mohammed Fahd al-Qahtani is a prominent Saudi human rights defender, academic, and co-founder of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA). He was arrested in June 2012 and sentenced to a 10-year prison sentence, followed by a travel ban of an equal length. 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 and was banned from writing or participating in social media and from traveling outside the Kingdom for six years after his release.
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. They were also made forcibly disappeared, following their protest for the extended detention.
We have also been informed about the recent release of other human rights defenders from Saudi prisons at the end of December 2024, including Mohammed Abdulaziz Al-Khudairi, Mohammed Al-Habdan, and Malik Al-Ahmad.
These cases of extended detention and are not isolated. Saudi human rights defenders in detention suffer from inhuman treatment and other forms of retaliation used by the Saudi authorities, such as extending the human rights defenders’ prison sentences or retrying them to prolong their detention without providing sufficient information or legal assistance.
Furthermore, Saudi repression extends far beyond its borders. Human rights defenders living abroad face relentless transnational repression (TNR) 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.
