Complete Silence on His Fate: Saudi Arabia Continues to Detain Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Fawzan Without Legal Justification
Saudi academic and scholar Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Fawzan has spent more than 2,407 days in arbitrary detention, ever since his arrest in July 2018 following a tweet in which he criticized the crackdown on clerics, scholars, and intellectuals in Saudi Arabia. In his post, he warned against the dangers of “excessive praise” and the silencing of dissenting voices. After his arrest, he was banned from travel, prohibited from using social media, and taken to an unknown location for several months without formal charges or a fair trial, as part of an effort to force his submission through intimidation and suppression.
In the absence of any fair legal proceedings, Saudi authorities later issued an unjust prison sentence against Dr. Al-Fawzan in a trial that lacked the most basic principles of justice. Despite completing this sentence in 2023, the authorities refused to release him. Instead, they reopened his case and subjected him to a second unjust trial. According to reliable sources, the judiciary is now considering a life sentence against him, though no final decision has been announced. If such a sentence is issued, it would constitute a gross violation of international legal standards, which prohibit double jeopardy—punishing someone twice for the same offense. This further proves that the real aim of his detention is not justice, but continued persecution and repression.
Since his arrest, Dr. Al-Fawzan has been subjected to severe mistreatment in prison, including prolonged solitary confinement, psychological and physical torture, denial of medical care, and restrictions on communication with his family. These abuses are not isolated incidents but part of a broader systematic policy to silence independent voices, even when they come from respected academics and scholars.
Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Fawzan is a Professor of Comparative Jurisprudence at the Higher Institute of Judiciary at Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University and a former member of the Saudi Human Rights Commission. His academic credentials extend beyond the kingdom, as he has also served as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School. However, his distinguished career has not shielded him from the state’s relentless crackdown on free expression and dissent.
The retrial of Dr. Al-Fawzan after he had already completed his sentence is a blatant violation of justice and a direct breach of Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which explicitly prohibits retrial for the same offense once a final judgment has been issued. Additionally, his treatment in detention violates Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which prohibits torture and inhumane treatment.
Together for Justice strongly condemns the continued detention of Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Fawzan and calls for his immediate and unconditional release, along with an end to all forms of abuse he has suffered. We also urge the United Nations, international governments, and human rights organizations to take urgent action and pressure Saudi Arabia to end its policy of arbitrary detention and politically motivated retrials, which serve only to prolong the suffering of detainees without any legal justification.
Dr. Al-Fawzan’s case is not just an individual injustice; it is a symbol of the oppressive tactics employed by the Saudi government against scholars, intellectuals, and clerics who refuse to align with its authoritarian agenda. His continued imprisonment and retrial confirm that freedom of expression remains a crime in Saudi Arabia, where the authorities are willing to use any means necessary to suppress voices that challenge their policies.
