Has the World Forgotten Islamic Thinker Hassan Farhan al-Maliki? Eight Years Inside Saudi Prisons
While Saudi authorities continue presenting a polished narrative of “reform” and “modernization” to the world, the reality on the ground tells a starkly different story—one of systematic repression and direct targeting of independent thinkers. At the center of this grim landscape stands Islamic scholar Hassan Farhan al-Maliki, who has spent the last eight years confined behind bars, without a fair trial and with no genuine prospect of release.
Al-Maliki, known for his intellectual revisionism and his courage in challenging dominant religious narratives, was arrested in September 2017 during a sweeping crackdown that targeted scholars, writers, and public intellectuals—anyone who dared to open a space for debate or question rigid political and religious doctrines. Since that day, al-Maliki has been treated as though critical thinking were a crime, inquiry a threat, and scholarship a danger deserving imprisonment.
He was denied his right to legal defense, not allowed access to a lawyer, and subjected to repeated trial postponements that stripped the process of any credibility. The charges brought against him highlight the political nature of his case: owning books, engaging in intellectual dialogue, and calling for a reassessment of religious discourse. Charges unfit for any legitimate court—yet the public prosecution went so far as to demand the death penalty against him.
The determination to keep al-Maliki behind bars for nearly a decade reflects far more than the silencing of one voice; it reflects a deliberate project to eliminate free thought and to deter any attempt to introduce independent discussions on religion and politics. In such an environment, courts become weapons, and laws become tools for managing fear rather than administering justice.
In July 2025, his son Abu Bakr Hassan al-Maliki launched a humanitarian campaign to revive international attention to his father’s plight, joined by scholars, religious figures, researchers, and media professionals from various backgrounds. Together for Justice renews today its full support for this campaign and stresses the urgent need to bring Hassan al-Maliki’s name back to the forefront of global discourse after years of systematic erasure and enforced silence.
Al-Maliki’s continued detention—and the threat of execution hanging over him—is neither an isolated incident nor a domestic issue. It is a real test of the international community’s willingness to defend freedom of thought and confront regimes that use the judiciary as an instrument to discipline minds rather than serve justice.
We remind the world today that Hassan al-Maliki is still there—inside a cell, behind a locked door, far from his family, his books, and his students—simply because he chose to think honestly, question boldly, and raise issues the regime insists must not be raised.
Accordingly, Together for Justice calls on the United Nations, the European Union, and all international human rights institutions to take urgent action to secure his immediate release, end his prosecution, and ensure that the judiciary is never again weaponized to silence scholars and independent thinkers.
