Four Years On: Journalist Musaed Al-Kathiri Remains Imprisoned Despite Completed Sentence
In March 2021, Saudi journalist and educator Musaed bin Hamad Al-Kathiri was due to be released after completing a 3.5-year prison sentence. Yet, more than four years later, he remains unlawfully detained in Saudi custody—without formal charges, a legal basis, or any official explanation.
Al-Kathiri was arrested during the mass crackdown of September 2017, one of the most repressive campaigns undertaken by Saudi authorities following the rise of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The campaign targeted a wide spectrum of voices—from academics and journalists to writers, clerics, and reform advocates—whose only offense was expressing independent thought or peacefully challenging state narratives.
From the outset, Al-Kathiri’s case has been emblematic of the broader erosion of legal safeguards in the Kingdom. He was denied access to legal counsel, prevented from contacting his family for extended periods, and subjected to a secret, politically motivated trial. He was handed a prison sentence of three and a half years without being informed of the charges or given a fair opportunity to defend himself.
Since completing his sentence in 2021, Al-Kathiri has remained in detention under conditions that violate both Saudi law and international human rights standards. He has endured prolonged isolation, inadequate medical care, and severe restrictions on communication—amounting to psychological abuse and arbitrary deprivation of liberty.
His continued detention reveals the deeply entrenched nature of repression in Saudi Arabia, where even the regime’s own legal outcomes are disregarded at will. It also exposes the emptiness of the government’s rhetoric on reform and modernization, which stands in stark contrast to its ongoing use of enforced disappearances, secret trials, and unlawful imprisonment.
Together for Justice calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Musaed Al-Kathiri and all other individuals who remain imprisoned beyond the expiration of their sentences. We further demand an independent investigation into the legal violations and inhumane treatment he has suffered throughout his detention.
We urge the international community to break its silence and hold the Saudi government accountable for its systematic abuses. Continued cooperation with a regime that flagrantly disregards the rule of law and human rights cannot be justified under any circumstances.
