Incredibly, Saudi Arabia’s Specialised Criminal Court has re-tried and, on 27 October 2025, sentenced veteran human rights defender Mohammed al-Bejadi to a further 25 years in prison, where he has already been held for more than two years beyond the expiry of his most recent sentence. His case highlights once again the Saudi authorities’ determination to silence peaceful dissent, despite a series of prisoner releases earlier in the year. ALQST is aware of scores of similar injustices.
A founding member in 2009 of the now-banned Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), al-Bejadi has been arrested and imprisoned three times for his peaceful human rights activism, most recently on 24 May 2018 during a crackdown on women’s rights defenders. He was subsequently sentenced to a 10-year prison term, with five years suspended, which expired in April 2023. More than two years later, he remains in Buraydah Prison, where he has been denied access to legal representation and experienced abuse including torture and prolonged incommunicado detention.
The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, highlighted al-Bejadi’s case in April 2025 to draw attention to the recent trend whereby the Saudi authorities continue to hold prisoners after completion of their sentences, in violation of basic international standards and Saudi Arabia’s own laws.
ALQST founder Yahya Assiri comments: “Al-Bejadi is a courageous human rights defender who has long championed the rights of others, at great personal risk. After already enduring years of unjust imprisonment, he now faces the prospect of another lengthy sentence, in a travesty of justice. I call on all people of conscience to speak out and demand the release of al-Bejadi, whose work, along with that of all human rights defenders, represents the only true safeguard for human rights.”
Since late 2024 the Saudi authorities have released dozens of people jailed for peacefully exercising their rights, but they continue to arbitrarily hold many more. Even after their release most prisoners continue to face heavy restrictions on their freedom, such as arbitrary travel bans or electronic tagging.
Among human rights defenders still being held are: Issa al-Hamid, (another ACPRA member, sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment), Mohammed al-Otaibi (17 years), Waleed Abu al-Khair (15 years), Khaled al-Omair (nine years) and Israa al-Ghomgham (13 years). Other prisoners of conscience include Red Crescent worker Abdulrahman al-Sadhan (sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment), who remains forcibly disappeared; fitness instructor and women’s rights activist Manahel al-Otaibi (five years); Nourah al-Qahtani (35 years); physician and Wikipedia administrator Osama Khalid (32 years); cartoonist Mohammed Al Hazzaa al-Ghamdi (23 years); clerics Mohammed al-Habib (12 years), Salman al-Odah and Hassan Farhan al-Maliki (the last two facing lengthy delays in their trials); 10 Nubian Egyptians (seven to nine years); and dozens of members of the Huwaitat tribe serving prison sentences of various lengths or on death row.
Meanwhile the Saudi authorities’ human rights record continues to worsen, with a surge in executions including those of child defendants Jalal Labbad and Abdullah al-Derazi, journalist Turki al-Jasser, and hundreds of foreign nationals for non-violent drug offences – all in blatant violation of international human rights law. At least 314 executions have been carried out so far in 2025 (as of 29 October), set to exceed last year’s record toll of 345.
Mohammed al-Bejadi is one of several arbitrarily imprisoned activists whose human rights work stretches back for many years. He is widely remembered for once having memorably declared: “All prisoners of conscience are my family!”
Assiri adds: “Al-Bejadi’s famous saying was his response to the Ministry of Interior when they attempted to bargain with him, offering to release any detained relatives of his if he would stop speaking out about injustice and abuse. In this way he was affirming that he saw defending every oppressed person as a moral and human duty – and now it is our duty to stand with him.”
ALQST calls on the Saudi authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Mohammed al-Bejadi and all other individuals who are imprisoned for the peaceful exercise of their fundamental rights and freedoms.
