Five years on from their arrest in July 2020, ten members of Nubian civic associations in Saudi Arabia remain arbitrarily detained on lengthy prison sentences for staging a peaceful commemoration of the 1973 October War. Their ongoing imprisonment serves as a reminder that a recent spate of prisoner releases cannot so far be seen as signalling any significant let-up in the Saudi authorities’ sustained repression.
The ten, Egyptian nationals, were long-time residents in Saudi Arabia and active members of Nubian community associations in the country when, on 14 July 2020, Saudi officials believed to be from the Mabaheth (secret police), part of the Presidency of State Security, raided the home of Adel Sayed Ibrahim Fakir, then head of the Nubian community in Riyadh. The following day they stormed the homes of and arrested Farajallah Ahmed Yousef, the previous head of Riyadh’s Nubian community, and eight other members of various Nubian civic associations: Jamal Abdullah Masri, Mohamed Fathallah Gomaa, Sayyed Hashem Shater, Ali Gomaa Ali Bahr, Saleh Gomaa Ahmed, Abdulsalam Gomaa Ali Bahr, Abdullah Gomaa Ali and Wael Ahmed Hassan Ishaq.
Their arrests stemmed from the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of association and assembly, for organising a peaceful event in Riyadh to mark the anniversary of the Arab-Israeli October War of 1973. Following their arrests, they were held incommunicado for two months and subjected to prolonged pre-trial detention without access to legal counsel, before eventually going on trial in Saudi Arabia’s Specialised Criminal Court (SCC) in November 2021. In October 2022 the SCC handed them prison sentences ranging from 10 to 18 years that were upheld in February 2023. The men were charged with spreading false and malicious rumours on social media, establishing an unlicensed association, and supporting a terrorist group.
The ten remain incarcerated in Abha Prison, Asir, allowed only limited contact with their families. Several of them, including Adel Sayed Ibrahim Fakir (68 years old) and Farajallah Ahmed Yousef (66), suffer from chronic diseases requiring regular medical treatment. In April this year ALQST submitted input to the UN Independent Expert on the Enjoyment of all Human Rights by Older Persons, Claudia Mahler, ahead of her visit to Saudi Arabia, highlighting areas in which older persons are particularly affected by systemic rights abuses in the country, including arbitrary detention and ill-treatment of prisoners. During her visit she was shown a range of services for older persons in the kingdom, but her request to meet with some older prisoners of conscience in Al-Ha’ir Prison in Riyadh was denied.
These abuses clearly indicate that recent prisoner releases do not mark a genuine shift in the Saudi authorities’ approach to human rights or their treatment of prisoners of conscience. While dozens have been released in recent months, they continue to face travel bans and other restrictions on their freedom, while many others remain arbitrarily imprisoned. Trends relating to other rights violations meanwhile continue to deteriorate, including escalating use of the death penalty amid a particular surge in executions of foreign nationals for non-violent drug-related offences.
ALQST calls on the Saudi authorities to quash the charges against these 10 Nubians detained for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of association, and release them along with all others detained for the peaceful exercise of their fundamental freedoms.
