Eight Years of Enforced Disappearance: Where Is Sheikh Sami Al-Ghayhab?
Together for Justice renews its urgent call for the Saudi authorities to immediately disclose the fate of Sheikh Sami Al-Ghayhab, a former senior official in the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, who was arbitrarily arrested in the notorious September 2017 crackdown. Since that time, Al-Ghayhab has been forcibly disappeared, with the Saudi regime refusing to provide any information about his whereabouts or the reasons for his arrest.
As of April 2025, eight years have passed with no official confirmation of his location, legal status, or wellbeing. His family has been denied any contact, and all attempts to inquire about his fate have been met with complete silence. Unconfirmed reports suggest he may have been sentenced to 15 years in prison, but no official documentation or legal process has been made public.
Al-Ghayhab previously served as director of the Anti-Extortion Division within the now-defunct religious police body. His disappearance raises grave concerns, especially given the well-documented horrors of Saudi detention facilities—from torture and solitary confinement to medical neglect and incommunicado detention.
Together for Justice emphasizes that enforced disappearance constitutes a crime against humanity under international law, as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. It involves the arrest or abduction of a person by state agents, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the detention or concealment of the person’s fate or whereabouts, placing the victim outside the protection of the law.
Such crimes are not subject to statutes of limitation, and those responsible—whether policymakers or executors—remain liable to international prosecution.
The timing of this case is particularly alarming. Just last week, the Saudi regime welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump with open arms, securing hundreds of billions in deals and public displays of political alignment. This came alongside global silence regarding the kingdom’s human rights record. Meanwhile, Riyadh continues its rebranding campaign through high-profile events such as the 2034 FIFA World Cup, even as it disappears citizens like Sami Al-Ghayhab with impunity.
Together for Justice holds the Saudi regime fully accountable for the fate and safety of Sheikh Sami Al-Ghayhab. We call on:
- The United Nations and relevant special procedures to demand full disclosure of his whereabouts;
- Independent international investigations into his case and others involving enforced disappearance;
- The immediate end of all forms of international complicity and normalization with a regime that treats its citizens as disposable.
The international community must not continue rewarding a government that disappears its critics and buries their voices. Silence is no longer neutrality—it is complicity.
