Imran Al-Arkani enters his fifth year in Saudi detention this month, a case that demonstrates how the Saudi system continues to punish humanitarian advocacy as if it were a crime.
He was arrested in October 2021 in Mecca after a coordinated online campaign targeting him for his public support for oppressed minorities, including the Rohingya. No violent act, no illegal activity, no threat to public safety—yet the authorities moved quickly to silence him.
For a full year after his arrest, he was held without charge. Then, in October 2022, the Specialized Criminal Court issued a 25-year sentence with no evidence and no legal basis. The sentence was later reduced to 20 years, not because of a fair review, but because the appeal was merely procedural and intended to preserve the appearance of legality.
Al-Arkani’s case is part of a broader policy targeting non-Saudi activists, minority advocates, and individuals who lack political protection. Independent humanitarian work is treated as a security threat, and due process is replaced by predetermined outcomes shaped by the security establishment.
Four years have passed without any meaningful legal proceedings, without access to proper legal representation, and without any sign that the authorities intend to correct this violation. The ongoing detention reflects a system designed to intimidate, not adjudicate.
Imran Al-Arkani should be released immediately, his sentence annulled, and his case reviewed by an independent international mechanism. His continued imprisonment exposes the gap between Saudi Arabia’s public reform narrative and the reality faced by activists on the ground.