Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan: Years of Arbitrary Detention and Enforced Disappearance in Saudi Prisons

More than seven years have passed since the arrest of Saudi humanitarian worker Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan, and more than four years have elapsed since his family last heard from him. Since his final, brief contact following the confirmation of his sentence in 2021, Saudi authorities have provided no information regarding his whereabouts or health condition, while consistently refusing to respond to family inquiries—placing his case within the framework of ongoing enforced disappearance.

Al-Sadhan was arrested on 12 March 2018 from his workplace inside a Saudi Red Crescent office in Riyadh. For an entire month following his arrest, authorities denied holding him. They later acknowledged his detention but continued to prevent family visits or communication and refused to disclose the reasons for his arrest or his place of detention.

For three full years, Al-Sadhan was held without being brought before any court or formally charged, in clear violation of Saudi criminal procedure law. In April 2021, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison, followed by a 20-year travel ban upon release. In October 2021, the Court of Appeal upheld the sentence, triggering widespread international condemnation.

Throughout his detention prior to sentencing, Al-Sadhan was allowed to contact his family only twice. The first contact occurred after approximately 23 months, through a phone call lasting less than one minute, during which he merely confirmed that he was alive and held in Al-Ha’ir Prison. The second contact came after sentencing and remains the last known communication with his family. Since the appeal ruling in October 2021, he has completely disappeared from view.

In addition to being denied family visits, Al-Sadhan was prevented from appointing legal counsel, and the charges against him were only revealed during the reading of the verdict—constituting a grave violation of his right to a fair trial. Following the confirmation of his sentence, he was again subjected to enforced disappearance.

According to informed sources, Al-Sadhan’s arrest followed the compromise of his Twitter account, which he used anonymously to post satirical criticism of Saudi policies. With the involvement of Saudi agents inside Twitter, his identity was uncovered, leading to his arrest and punishment for exercising peaceful expression.

In May 2023, his sister Arij Al-Sadhan filed a lawsuit in the United States against Twitter and senior Saudi officials, accusing them of unlawfully leaking her brother’s data, endangering his life, and violating his privacy. The lawsuit alleged that Twitter became a complicit tool in a transnational repression campaign, motivated by financial interests and its relationship with Saudi Arabia—one of the platform’s largest investors after Elon Musk.

Arij Al-Sadhan has also revealed that her brother was subjected to severe torture immediately after his arrest, resulting in a broken hand and crushed fingers. According to her testimony, Saudi secret police mocked him during the abuse, telling him: “This is the hand you used to write and tweet with—now we have destroyed it.” In a previous interview with The Guardian, she confirmed that he was held in prolonged solitary confinement for years and endured extensive physical and psychological torture.

Like many prisoners of conscience in Saudi Arabia, Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan has suffered arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture, forced confessions, denial of medical care, and degrading treatment—violations prohibited under international law and incompatible with basic human dignity.

Together for Justice calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan, full disclosure of his whereabouts and health condition, and accountability for those responsible for the violations he has endured since his arrest.

Together for Justice further urges the United Nations, Special Procedures, and international human rights bodies to intervene urgently to pressure Saudi authorities to reveal Al-Sadhan’s fate, end the practice of enforced disappearance, and address the systematic repression of peaceful expression in the Kingdom.