Muhammad Al-Otaibi: Seven years of injustice and denial of the most fundamental human rights
Today, May 24, marks seven years since the arrest of prominent Saudi detainee Mohammed Al-Otaibi, the founder of the Al-Ittihad Society. He was detained at the airport while preparing to travel to Norway, where he was granted refugee status due to the restrictions imposed on him in Saudi Arabia.
Muhammad Al-Otaibi, a well-known human rights advocate in the Kingdom known for advocating for civil reform, was put on trial before the Specialized Criminal Court and faced a lengthy list of accusations, including “his involvement in forming an association and disclosing it prior to obtaining the required licenses,” “preparing, drafting, and issuing several Statements, signing them, and publishing them online criticising the Kingdom’s reputation, policy, and judicial and security institutions, and are intended to divide national cohesion and undermine the state’s prestige, security, and stability,” and “his dissemination of information about the investigation procedures against him after they pledged not to
He was given a 14-year prison sentence in January 2018 following an unfair trial in which the minimal requirements for a fair trial were not met at any point. International and local human rights organisations denounced the ruling, calling it a step that “contradicts the Crown Prince’s recently declared ambitions to modernize the Kingdom.” In response to the verdict, Amnesty International’s Middle East Campaigns Director, Samah Hadid, stated: “We are concerned that Mohammed bin Salman’s new leadership will use the harsh punishment for Mohammed Al-Otaibi, who should not have been tried in the first place, to intimidate civil society and human rights advocates in the Kingdom.”
Despite all these accusations and pleas, the Saudi reaction was shocking. The Saudi judiciary increased Mohammed Al-Otaibi’s prison sentence to 17 years without providing any legal justification, depriving the detained human rights activist of all his rights that had been taken away from him since his arbitrary arrest and unfair sentence.
The harsher punishment appears to have been a reaction to Al-Otaibi’s repeated hunger strikes inside his prison, which he started to protest the harsh and inhumane conditions of his detention. Al-Otaibi also appears to have been subjected to mistreatment inside Dammam Prison because of the dehumanizing treatment he receives there and the harsh conditions in which he is held, in addition to his family’s repeated demands that he be released.
According to confidential sources, Al-Otaibi regularly gets locked up with another prisoner who, knowing that he is being maliciously injured, threatens to kill him, which puts him in danger of death while he is incarcerated. They also consistently forbid Al-Otaibi from having contact with his family.
Together for Justice confirms that the continued imprisonment of Al-Otaibi and other prisoners of conscience is a disgrace to the current Saudi regime, which claims to be concerned for human rights, while its actions against civil society and opponents indicate exactly the opposite.
Together for Justice declares that if the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia is sincere in his pledges to implement reforms in the Kingdom, he must guarantee the unconditional and prompt release of all prisoners of conscience, including human rights advocates imprisoned for no other reason than peacefully exercising their most fundamental rights.
