In Saudi Arabia, even asking what happened to your father can be treated as a crime.
That’s the painful reality for the three sons of Sulaiman al-Dowaish, a preacher who was arrested in 2016 after posting tweets critical of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He was tortured in a secret detention facility and forcibly disappeared in 2018. Since then, the authorities have refused to disclose his whereabouts or condition.
Rather than receiving answers, his sons have been met with prison sentences. Malik al-Dowaish was initially sentenced to 27 years in prison, later reduced to 15, for peacefully advocating for his father’s release. Abdulrahman al-Dowaish remains in detention, despite the fact that his two-year sentence expired in September 2023. Their brother, Abdulwahhab, was arrested again earlier this year—for the third time since 2017, when he told an Interior Ministry official, “We love our father dearly; either release him or put us in prison with him.” All three have been punished not for any actual crime, but simply for refusing to remain silent about their father’s disappearance.
The al-Dowaish case is not an isolated incident. It reflects a broader pattern in Saudi Arabia, where peaceful expression is criminalized and even the relatives of detainees are treated as adversaries. The authorities have created a system where punishment continues well beyond prison walls and often long after official sentences end. Between December 2024 and February 2025, the Saudi government released around 44 prisoners of conscience. While this was portrayed as a gesture of reform, many of those released are still subjected to harsh restrictions. Individuals have faced indefinite travel bans—often extended to their family members—as well as bans on speaking publicly, electronic surveillance, and threats of re-arrest for discussing prison conditions.
Sanad Human Rights Organization has documented several such cases, revealing how some former prisoners are forbidden from attending family events, forced to wear ankle bracelets, or subjected to financial restrictions that limit access to their own bank accounts. These measures create a constant state of fear and insecurity, not only for the released individuals but also for their families. The situation is even more dire for those who remain behind bars long after their sentences expire. Mohammed al-Bejadi, a co-founder of the banned Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), has been arbitrarily detained for more than two years beyond the end of his term. His case is not unique. Activists including Abdulaziz al-Sunaidi, Mohammed al-Hudaif, and Wajdi al-Ghazzawi remain imprisoned despite having completed their sentences. Others, such as Mohammed al-Rabiah and Israa al-Ghomgham, have had their sentences extended, sometimes just as they were due to be released, in what appears to be a deliberate effort to keep them behind bars.
While Saudi Arabia continues to promote its Vision 2030 initiative as a sign of modernization, the repression behind the scenes tells another story. The treatment of the al-Dowaish family illustrates a system that does not tolerate dissent, punishes advocacy, and maintains control even after individuals leave prison. Release does not equal freedom when it comes with surveillance, silence, and fear.
And for some, the consequences are far worse. In the first four months of 2025 alone, Saudi Arabia executed 100 people, averaging nearly one execution every day and a half. According to ECDHR, 70 percent of these were for non-lethal offenses, including drug-related charges, in clear violation of international human rights standards. This surge in executions highlights how the justice system in the Kingdom can quickly shift from repression to irreversible violence.
There can be no real progress while families like the al-Dowaishs are punished for seeking the truth, and while peaceful activists remain locked up or live under permanent threat. If reform is to mean anything, it must begin with transparency, accountability, and an end to the quiet, calculated machinery of repression that continues to claim lives and futures in Saudi Arabia.