Fahd Al-Abdali spends more than 6 years behind bars for criticizing Saudi regime
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman began an arbitrary arrest campaign against academic advocates, writers, activists, and scholars as soon as he came to power in the Kingdom. The only crime was to exercise their constitutional and international legal right to free speech. Even though the government believed that exercising this right was illegal, the detainees are still subject to punishment.
One of them is the activist Fahd bin Saeed Al-Abdali, who was detained without charge or trial and whose family was not informed until 2019 that he was being held arbitrarily. They have also been denied access to his medical and psychological file, and have been unable to speak till today.
It is noteworthy that Fahd Al-Abdali has been arrested on political charges multiple times, with each arrest being the result of a string of false and fabricated accusations. However, his most recent arrest involved his being taken to an undisclosed location and the cessation of all further news regarding him. All of these practices aim to abuse him and break his will.
Together for Justice emphasizes that forcing detainees to undergo enforced disappearance is a crime against humanity, as stated in the Rome Statute that establishes the International Criminal Court for enforced disappearance. Additionally, enforced disappearance is defined by international human rights law as the kidnapping or imprisonment of an individual by a political or state entity, or by a third party acting on behalf of a political or state entity, and then refusing to acknowledge the victim’s whereabouts or fate in order to deny them legal protection.
It goes on to say that enforced disappearance is a crime against humanity that is not covered by the statute of limitations, meaning that those who commit this serious offense could face legal repercussions from around the world.
It also exhorts the international community to keep a close eye on the situation, hold the Saudi government responsible for any violations of human rights, and cease all forms of cooperation with the Saudi regime until it offers substantial and genuine assurances that the situation will improve.
