Khaled Naji Al-Shammari: Education Office Director Sentenced to 13 Years After Criticizing Saudi Arabia’s Three-Semester School System
Together for Justice reminds the international community of the case of Khaled Naji Al-Shammari, Director of the Education Office in Rafha Governorate, who has been disappeared since March 2023 after reportedly being targeted over his criticism of Saudi Arabia’s three-semester school system.
According to available information, Al-Shammari was sentenced to 13 years in prison for expressing a professional opinion on a public education policy. His case shows how far Saudi Arabia’s repression has expanded, reaching not only political activists, journalists, and human rights defenders, but also public-sector professionals who comment on policies within their own fields of expertise.
Criticizing the three-semester system cannot be considered a crime under any legal or logical standard. Teachers, education administrators, and professionals working directly within the education sector are among those best placed to assess the impact of such policies on students, teachers, schools, and families. Their views should be heard as part of public debate, not punished with disappearance and long-term imprisonment.
Al-Shammari’s case is not about violence, incitement, or any recognizable security threat. It concerns a professional opinion on an educational policy. Yet Saudi authorities treated that opinion as grounds for severe punishment, reflecting a broader pattern in which criticism of public policy is transformed into a security or judicial case.
Since his disappearance in March 2023, his family has reportedly received no clear information about his whereabouts, health condition, or legal status. This prolonged lack of information raises serious concerns that he may be held incommunicado or subjected to enforced disappearance, placing his safety and well-being at significant risk.
Together for Justice stresses that sentencing Khaled Al-Shammari to 13 years in prison over criticism of an education policy constitutes a direct violation of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. The continued concealment of his fate from his family further aggravates the case and places full responsibility for his safety on the Saudi authorities.
The case exposes the deep contradiction between Saudi Arabia’s official narrative of reform and the reality faced by individuals who express independent views. A state that imprisons an education official for criticizing a school system is not encouraging reform; it is criminalizing professional discussion and silencing those who understand the consequences of public policy.
Together for Justice calls for the immediate disclosure of Khaled Naji Al-Shammari’s fate and place of detention, access to his family and legal counsel, guarantees of his safety, the annulment of the unjust sentence against him, and his immediate and unconditional release.
Together for Justice also calls on Saudi authorities to end the prosecution of education professionals and public-sector employees for expressing professional opinions, and to respect the right to public debate on education and administrative policy as a basic freedom, not a crime.
