Human rights must be at the center of any conversation between the United States and Saudi Arabian governments, rather than being swept aside, said Amnesty International ahead of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s meeting with President Trump in Washington D.C. on November 18.
This meeting comes as the human rights conditions in both Saudi Arabia and the United States continue to worsen. This will be the Crown Prince’s first official visit to the U.S. since March 2018 and since the state-sanctioned murder of Saudi journalist and U.S. permanent resident Jamal Khashoggi, for which there has still been no justice.
“In Saudi Arabia, human rights conditions have significantly deteriorated under the Crown Prince’s leadership,” said Elizabeth Rghebi, MENA Advocacy Director with Amnesty International USA. “Amnesty International has documented how Saudi authorities have intensified their crackdown on freedom of expression over the past few years, with Saudi courts convicting and handing down lengthy prison terms to dozens of individuals for expressing themselves on social media. This attack on the freedom of expression must end.”
Those who have been targeted include Manahel al-Otabi, a Saudi fitness influencer and women’s human rights defender, serving a five-year prison sentence solely for her social media posts. Abdulrahman al-Sadhan was sentenced to 20 years in prison for satirical tweets. Sheikh Salman Alodah has been unjustly detained and held in solitary confinement for seven years due to his social media posts. Mohammed al-Ghamdi is now serving 30 years in prison for tweets critical of the authorities. Members of Congress should use this visit as an opportunity to call for their immediate and unconditional release. Executions have also reached record levels for a wide range of offenses, a significant percentage related to drugs.
Freedom of expression has also been under attack in the U.S.
“During his first year back in office President Trump has taken a sledgehammer to the rights to freedom of expression and assembly, especially targeting those who voice dissenting opinions,” said Rghebi. “Students criticizing Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip have been particularly targeted and face surveillance, arbitrary and otherwise unlawful protest related arrests, enforced disappearances, and deportation orders. The Trump administration must end its targeting of people simply for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly.”
Leqaa Kordia is the latest protester still languishing in U.S. immigration detention after being targeted for her protest activity against Israel’s genocide. Amnesty International is advocating for her release.
At the same time, Israel, armed by the U.S., is continuing its genocide against Palestinians in Gaza amid a so-called ceasefire agreement.
“President Trump and the Crown Prince must do more to ensure a full cessation of hostilities and a total lifting of Israel’s unlawful blockade to allow the unhindered flow of life saving supplies to all parts of Gaza,” said Rghebi. “The U.S. must also immediately suspend the sale and transfer of all arms to Israel or risk complicity.”
Amnesty recently reported on a U.S. air strike in 2025 on the same prison compound that the Saudi-led coalition bombed in Yemen with a U.S. weapon a few years prior. Both attacks resulted in significant death and injury to civilians.
“Congress should use the occasion of the visit to demand accountability and reparations for civilians in Yemen who continue to bear the life-changing costs of unlawful attacks,” said Rghebi.
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