ALQST welcomes the release of several more prisoners of conscience in Saudi Arabia, seeing this as a positive trend but insufficient. Their release after years of arbitrary detention and grave rights violations is an encouraging development and testament to the impact of advocacy efforts. Yet it does not mark the end of the injustice suffered by these individuals, as they are often subjected after their release to arbitrary travel bans, whether imposed by the courts or unofficial. Meanwhile countless others continue to be unjustly imprisoned.
Most recently, in late May, human rights defender Mohammed al-Rabiah was released after more than seven years of arbitrary imprisonment. His sentence had earlier been reduced from 17 years to eight with one year suspended, a term which expired in early March. Al-Rabiah was arrested in May 2018 as part of a crackdown against prominent women human rights defenders and several men who advocated for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. He was subjected to brutal torture and sentenced to prison for his peaceful activism.
Also released recently were writer and human rights defender Fadhel al-Mansef, released in early May after completing a 14-year prison term on charges related to his activism, and doctor and scholar Abdulmohsen al-Ahmad, released in March long after his seven-year prison term had expired.
A number of prisoners of conscience released in recent months were partway through serving lengthy prison sentences for peaceful online expression, including podiatrist and Wikipedia administrator Ziyad al-Sufiani (sentenced to 14 years), medical student Sara al-Jar (27 years), and bloggers Fatima al-Shawarb (30 years and six months) and Sukaynah al-Aithan (40 years).
Others released include bloggers arrested in May and June 2021 during a crackdown against those peacefully expressing opinions online – Asma al-Subeaei, Yasmine al-Ghufaili, and medical doctor Lina al-Sharif – as well as rapper Omar Shibouba (arrested in March 2022), Shaimaa al-Baqmi (arrested in April 2022 and forcibly disappeared) and Abdullah al-Duraibi (arrested in May 2022 and likewise forcibly disappeared).
ALQST has also learned of the release of further members of the Huwaitat tribe arrested for vocally opposing forced displacement to make way for the state-sponsored Neom megaproject, many of whom had been sentenced to exceptionally lengthy prison terms: Abdullah Dakhil Allah al-Huwaiti (sentenced to 50 years), Thamer Tayseer al-Huwaiti (20 years), Sami Halil al-Huwaiti, Muhammad Subaih al-Tuqtaqi al-Huwaiti, Ayman Bukhait al-Huwaiti and Suleiman Huwaimel al-Huwaiti.
The growing number of prisoners of conscience released in recent months, especially since the start of 2025, also includes high-profile human rights defenders such as Mohammed al-Qahtani and Essa al-Nukheifi, doctoral student Salma al-Shehab, social media figures such as Mansour al-Raqiba and Hatem al-Najjar, and dozens of other members of the Huwaitat tribe.
In almost every case, however, those released continue to face heavy restrictions, notably arbitrary travel bans that prevent them from leaving the country. Many had a travel ban imposed by the courts at the time of sentencing, to be applied upon release, normally for the same duration as the prison term itself. They include Essa al-Nukheifi (under a six-year travel ban), Salma al-Shehab (eight years), Mohammed al-Qahtani (10 years) and Fadhel al-Manasef (14 years).
Where others have been released partway through their prison terms, or even prior to being sentenced, the terms of their release often remain unclear, in keeping with the lack of transparency around judicial processes in the country. It may be that their sentences have been quashed yet they remain subject to “unofficial” travel bans imposed by the Saudi authorities without any notification or for any specific duration.
Women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul, released in February 2021, remains under an unofficial ban even after the expiry in November 2023 of the ban imposed by the Specialised Criminal Court when it sentenced her to prison. Her case raises concern that others may face the same fate even when their court-imposed travel bans expire or if their sentences are quashed. Such arbitrary travel bans, which often extend to family members as well, have a severe personal impact on the victims, and are in violation of basic international human rights standards as well as Saudi domestic law.
Despite the recent flurry of releases, there are many other prisoners of conscience who are still arbitrarily imprisoned, in some cases for more than a decade, for exercising their basic rights. They come from a wide range of professions, age groups and backgrounds, and include human rights defenders and NGO founders Mohammed al-Otaibi (sentenced to 17 years’ imprisonment), Waleed Abu al-Khair (15 years), and Abdulaziz al-Shubaily (eight years); rights activists who took part in peaceful protests against anti-Shi’a discrimination in the country’s Eastern Province in and after 2011, including Israa al-Ghomgham (13 years); Red Crescent worker Abdulrahman al-Sadhan (20 years), who remains forcibly disappeared; fitness instructor and women’s rights activist Manahel al-Otaibi (11 years); mother of five Nourah al-Qahtani (35 years); medical doctor and Wikipedia administrator Osama Khalid (32 years); clerics Mohammed al-Habib (12 years) and Salman al-Odah and Hassan Farhan al-Maliki (both facing lengthy delays in their trials); retired architect Ahmed Farid Mustafa; and dozens of members of the Huweitat tribe serving a range of prison sentences or on death row.
ALQST calls on the Saudi authorities to ensure the unconditional freedom of the released prisoners of conscience and their families, including by revoking any unjust restrictions imposed on them such as travel bans, and to immediately and unconditionally release those who remain detained for the peaceful exercise of their fundamental freedoms.
