ALQST welcomes the recent release of several prisoners of conscience in Saudi Arabia, including high-profile human rights activists, social media influencers, and a dozen members of the Huweitat tribe. Their releases, often after years of arbitrary imprisonment and grave violations of their rights, are testament to the power of sustained campaigning, and efforts will continue to secure freedom for the countless others arbitrarily imprisoned. Saudi Arabia’s authorities must now ensure that those released are granted full freedom, including the right to travel, and cease their arbitrary arrests of individuals for exercising basic rights.
In recent months the Saudi authorities have released more than 20 prisoners of conscience. Starting in December 2024, they released journalist Malik al-Ahmad and cleric Mohammed al-Khudairi, both detained amid a huge wave of arrests in September 2017; blogger Dawood al-Ali, arrested in December 2020 following tweets in which he rejected normalisation with Israel; and a number of others.
In the first few days of 2025, Saudi human rights defenders Mohammed al-Qahtani and Essa al-Nukheifi were conditionally released after years of arbitrary imprisonment on the basis of their peaceful activism and more than two years’ delay since the completion of their prison terms. Although freed from prison, they remain under lengthy travel bans.
On 10 February, Saudi PhD student Salma al-Shehab was released after more than four years of arbitrary imprisonment on the basis of her peaceful online activism supporting women’s rights. Her release followed the reduction of her prison sentence, in September 2024, from 27 years to four with an additional four years suspended, a term which expired in December 2024.
A further spate of releases followed during February 2025: of social media influencer Mansour al-Raqiba, detained in May 2022 and sentenced to 27 years in prison over a secretly recorded video criticising the crown prince’s “Vision 2030”; podcast presenter Hatem al-Najjar, arrested in January 2024 during an online campaign against him; teacher Asaad bin Nasser al-Ghamdi, arrested in 2022 and sentenced to a 20-year jail term for peaceful social media activity; blogger Ahmed al-Budaiwi, arrested as a result of a Facebook post about the mass execution of 81 men in March 2022; and nurse Zeinab al-Rabea, arrested in June 2022 because of social media posts.
ALQST has also learned of the recent release of a dozen members of the Huwaitat tribe, arrested for vocally opposing forced displacement to make way for the state-sponsored Neom megaproject and sentenced to lengthy prison terms: Mohammed Saqr al-Huwaiti; Ahmed Ataullah al-Huwaiti; Ahmed Musa al-Huwaiti, Eid Al-Mashouri al-Huwaiti; Abdulaziz al-Mashouri al-Huwaiti; Attia Suleiman al-Tageegi al-Huwaiti; Abdullah Suleiman al-Tageegi al-Huwaiti; Abdullah Saleh al-Tageegi al-Huwaiti; Ibrahim Ataullah al-Mashouri al-Huwaiti; Hamoud Odeh al-Mashouri al-Huwaiti; Abdulhadi al-Riqabi; al-Huwaiti; and Abdulmohsen al-Mashouri al-Huwaiti.
The terms of these releases, which have not formed part of a royal pardon, are largely unknown, and it remains unclear whether any of the prison sentences have been quashed, thus leaving individuals potentially at risk of re-arrest and in a state of fear. This also underscores the arbitrary nature of the Saudi judicial system, and the need for systemic reform.
While every release is a positive development, many of the prisoners of conscience who have been released in recent years continue to face heavy restrictions, notably travel bans that prevent them from leaving the country and in many cases tear families apart. Mohammed al-Qahtani, for example, remains under a 10-year travel ban that cruelly prevents him from being reunited with his wife and five children in the United States. Travel bans like these are normally imposed in advance as part of a prisoner’s judicial sentence, usually for the same additional length of time as the prison term itself, but the authorities sometimes impose “unofficial” travel bans without any notification. Released prisoners can also face arbitrary bans on work and social media activity, inflicting further hardship on individuals who may have already endured years of grave violations of their rights in prison, including ill-treatment and medical neglect with potentially long-term effects on their physical and mental health.
Furthermore, despite the recent flurry of releases, there are many other prisoners of conscience who have not yet been included and who remain arbitrarily imprisoned for exercising their basic rights, in some cases for more than a decade. They come from a wide range of professions, ages and backgrounds, and include, among others: 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 Fadhel al-Manasef (14 years) and Israa al-Ghomgham (eight years); Mohammed al-Rabiah (17 years), a rights activist known for his support for women’s rights; 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 (45 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).
Meanwhile, as the recent releases have taken place, there have also been a number of new arbitrary arrests for legitimate activities such as speaking out about poor working conditions, peacefully exercising basic rights, opposing government policies, and engaging in activism. Among the newly arrested are Mohammad Ismael al-Daraa, Javaid Ahmed, and a British citizen. The Saudi authorities have also arrested Salmah bint Hassan al-Huwaiti, mother of the detained child defendant Abdullah al-Huwaiti who has been sentenced to death, due to her support for her son and posts on X.
There must be an end to such abuses, together with lasting reforms including abolition of the Specialised Criminal Court and repeal of the draconian Anti-Cybercrime and Counter-Terrorism Laws that criminalise peaceful expression, as states recommended during Saudi Arabia’s fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
ALQST’s Head of Monitoring and Advocacy Lina Alhathloul comments: “The recent releases, which wouldn’t have been possible without the tireless campaigning of activists around the world, are major victories. Yet for them to mark a real turning point in the Saudi authorities' dire rights record, they must be accompanied by full freedom for the individuals released, as well as the release of all other prisoners of conscience and the halting of new arbitrary arrests.”
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.
