Waleed Abu al-Khair is the founder of the NGO Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia. He is also the first Saudi national to provide legal defence to human rights defenders, arrested for their activism. He defended Samar and Raif Badawi. Al-Khair was arrested in April 2014, making it close to twelve years that he has spent in detention. He was the first Human Rights activist to be tried and sentenced under Saudi Arabia’s vague Counter Terrorism law. This law intentionally vague, to be systematically exploited in the repression of political dissent, as seen in al-Khair’s case.
Saudi Arabia is notorious for its lack of transparency when disclosing information to the public concerning trials against human rights defenders. Due to this, there are contradicting accounts of the charges against al-Khair. Human Rights Watch has stated that al-Khair was convicted on six separate charges, all relating to his social media activism: “seeking to remove legitimate authority, harming public order in the state and its officials, inflaming public opinion and disparaging and insulting judicial authority, publicly slandering the judiciary, distorting the Kingdom’s reputation, making international organizations hostile to the kingdom and issuing unverified statements that harm the Kingdom’s reputation.” While a United Nation Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in 2018 found al-Khair to be charged with “seeking to discredit State legitimacy, abusing public opinion and insulting the judiciary, publicly defaming the judiciary, inciting international organizations against Saudi Arabia with the intent of ruining its reputation, making statements and documents to harm the reputation of the country adopting an unauthorized association, being its chairman, speaking on behalf, issuing statements and communicating through it and preparing, storing and sending items that would prejudice public order.”
Al-Khair was tried in the Specialized Criminal Court and sentenced to fifteen years in prison, followed by a fifteen-year travel ban, alongside a fine of 200,000 riyals. His trial was unfair; he was denied access to legal counsel and given no opportunity to prepare his own defence. The Saudi authorities’’ use of vaguely defined laws to repress dissent is complimented by their post-release restrictions of political prisoners, like travel bans, to permanently silence critics and ensure a definite end to their activism. Despite these efforts, al-Khair has continued his activism in detention, carrying out several hunger strikes against his mistreatment.
While in detention, he has been held incommunicado and suffered from torture, prolonged solitary confinement, sleep deprivation, denial of food and medical neglect. He suffers from diabetes which requires a special diet, of which authorities refuse to provide him. In prison, he has claimed to have repeatedly been the target of violent attacks from other prisoners and prison guards.
Waleed Abu al-Khair is an internationally renowned human rights defender. He has been the recipient of many awards:
- 2011: Forbes Middle East: the top 100 most influential Arabs on Twitter,
- 2012: the Olof Palme Prize
- 2015: Ludovic Trarieux International Human Rights Prize
- 2016: Law Society of Upper Canada Human Rights Award
- 2018: Right Livelihood Award and PEN Printer Prize for an International Writer of Courage
- 2019: American Bar Association Award
- 2020: Amnesty International’s Geuzenpenning Award
- 2024: Anna Dahlbäck’s Memorial Fund Award
Saudi officials must immediately and unconditionally release Waleed Abu al-Khair. His detention is arbitrary. He must be allowed to carry out his peaceful human rights work and use his fundamental right to freedom of expression. All accusations of torture and mistreatment must be thoroughly, independently and immediately investigated, with all perpetrators being brought to justice.