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Saudi Arabia Human Rights
Faced with rising calls for political reform, Saudi Arabian authorities have responded with repressive measures against those suspected of taking part in or supporting protests or expressing views critical of the state. Protesters have been held without charge and incommunicado for days or weeks at a time, and some are reported to have been tortured and otherwise ill-treated. Nearly 20 people connected with protests in the Eastern Province have been killed since 2011 and hundreds have been imprisoned.
Other human rights concerns include the death penalty, with more than 2,000 people executed between 1985 and 2013; the arrest, imprisonment and harassment of large members of the Shi’a Muslim community and other minority groups; long-standing exploitation and abuse of migrant workers by private and state employers; and continued discrimination against women in law and practice.
Relevant Links
Saudi Arabia Newsroom
January 31, 2020 • Press Release
Saudi Arabian Arms Ship Bahri Yanbu Faces Growing Opposition in European Ports
Lawsuits, protests and other actions are planned in several European ports to oppose this week’s return of the Bahri Yanbu, a Saudi Arabian state-owned cargo ship that has previously ferried tens of millions of dollars’ worth of arms to fuel the war in Yemen, Amnesty International said today.
January 13, 2020 • Press Release
Why Amnesty Will Not Attend Sham C20 Meetings in Saudi Arabia
The global C20 civil society forum hosted this year by Saudi Arabia is a farcical attempt by the new G20 hosts to whitewash their dire human rights record, Amnesty International said.
December 23, 2019 • Press Release
Khashoggi verdict in Saudi Arabia a whitewash
Responding to a Saudi Arabian court’s sentencing of five people to death and three others to prison for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Middle East Research Director, said: “This verdict is a whitewash which brings neither justice nor the truth for Jamal Khashoggi and his loved ones. The trial has …
December 6, 2019 • Press Release
Saudi Arabia Must End Ill-Treatment and Arbitrary Detention of Human Rights Defender, Waleed Abu Al-Khair
Amnesty International has received credible reports that Saudi Arabian prison authorities arbitrarily placed human rights defender and prisoner of conscience Waleed Abu al-Khair in solitary confinement and under tightened security. Waleed was placed in solitary confinement in Dhahban Prison near Jeddah on November 26 and for the past week, has been held incommunicado, put through torture and other ill-treatment.
November 12, 2019 • Press Release
Categorizing Feminism, Atheism, Homosexuality as Crimes Exposes Saudi Arabia’s Dangerous Intolerance
Responding to an official announcement and a promotional video published by Saudi Arabia’s state security agency which categorizes feminism, homosexuality and atheism as ‘extremist ideas,’ Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Director, said:
October 1, 2019 • Press Release
One Year After Khashoggi Killing, Saudi Activists Honor His Legacy by Continuing to Fight for Freedom of Expression
One year since the extrajudicial execution of Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi citizens are honoring Khashoggi’s legacy by pursuing the fight for their inalienable right to freely express themselves, despite the authorities’ continuing crackdown and the absence of any meaningful signal to hold accountable those responsible for Jamal Khashoggi’s killing, Amnesty International said today.
September 20, 2019 • Press Release
MEDIA ADVISORY: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA TO MARK ANNIVERSARY OF JAMAL KHASHOGGI KILLING
October 2, 2019 marks one year since Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian journalist who went into self-exile in the United States, entered into a Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain marriage documents, never to be seen again. Questions still remain about the killing of Jamal Khashoggi and a credible, transparent investigation into the full truth …
June 19, 2019 • Press Release
Saudi Arabia: UN findings on Jamal Khashoggi’s murder highlight need for independent criminal investigation to uncover the truth
Responding to the release of the UN report on the murder of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which concludes that he was the victim of “an extrajudicial killing for which the state of Saudi Arabia is responsible under human rights law,” and that “there is credible evidence, warranting further investigation of high-level Saudi officials’ individual liability, including the Crown Prince’s,” Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Middle East Director of Research, said:
June 17, 2019 • Press Release
Saudi Arabia: Decision to spare teenager’s life must be followed by abolition of death penalty for all juveniles
Responding to the news that Murtaja Qureiris, the young man from Saudi Arabia arrested at the age of 13, will not face execution and has been sentenced to 12 years in prison instead, Amnesty International’s Middle East Research Director Lynn Maalouf said the following:
May 24, 2019 • Press Release
Congress Must Not Allow Arms Transfers to Saudi Coalition
Responding to reports that President Trump will attempt to exploit loopholes to continue sending arms to Saudi Arabia and the UAE without Congressional approval, Philippe Nassif, the advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International USA said the following.