Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan: Saudi Humanitarian Activist Forcibly Disappeared Since 2021 After Years of Isolation, Alleged Torture, and an Unjust Sentence
Together for Justice condemns the continued enforced disappearance of Saudi humanitarian activist Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan, who has been detained since March 2018. Saudi authorities have allowed him to communicate with his family only twice since his arrest, before all contact was completely cut off in October 2021.
Al-Sadhan’s case is one of the harshest examples of Saudi Arabia’s treatment of prisoners of conscience. The violation is not limited to the unjust sentence issued against him. It also includes years of secrecy, isolation, and the denial of his family’s most basic right: to know where he is, what his health condition is, and whether he is safe.
Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan was arrested in March 2018 at his workplace in Riyadh. He then entered a prolonged cycle of secret detention, official silence, alleged torture, and isolation. Over the following years, his family received only two brief calls from him. Since October 2021, he has been completely disappeared, with no calls, visits, or reliable information about his place of detention.
Despite this total information blackout, Saudi authorities sentenced him to 20 years in prison, followed by a 20-year travel ban. This severe punishment effectively extends across decades and reflects the use of the judiciary to punish peaceful expression and intimidate independent voices.
Denying Al-Sadhan contact with his family except for two calls since his arrest, then disappearing him entirely since 2021, cannot be treated as an ordinary prison measure. It amounts to ongoing enforced disappearance, removing him from the protection of the law, placing him outside independent oversight, and leaving his family in permanent fear and uncertainty.
Statements from his family, particularly his sister Areej Al-Sadhan, have raised serious allegations of torture from the early days of his detention, including severe injuries such as a broken hand and smashed fingers, as well as prolonged solitary confinement and denial of contact with the outside world. If confirmed, these violations would constitute a deliberate pattern of physical and psychological abuse.
Together for Justice stresses that the sentence against Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan cannot be separated from the conditions of his detention and trial. Enforced disappearance, alleged torture, denial of family contact, and lack of transparency all undermine any claim that his case was handled through fair or lawful proceedings.
The sentence of 20 years in prison followed by a 20-year travel ban reveals a clear attempt to erase both his public and private life. The punishment does not end with imprisonment; it continues through long-term restrictions designed to deprive him of movement, stability, and normal life even after his expected release.
Al-Sadhan’s case is not isolated. It forms part of a wider pattern in Saudi Arabia, where arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, unfair trials, and harsh sentences are used to silence critical voices, even when the expression involved is peaceful and does not include violence, incitement, or any genuine criminal act.
Together for Justice holds the Saudi authorities fully responsible for Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan’s life and physical and psychological safety. The organization calls for the immediate disclosure of his place of detention, health condition, and legal status, and for him to be allowed regular contact with his family and lawyer without restriction.
The organization further calls for the annulment of the unjust sentence against him, the lifting of the travel ban, his immediate and unconditional release, and an independent investigation into the allegations of torture, ill-treatment, and enforced disappearance he has suffered since his arrest.
Together for Justice urges the United Nations and its special procedures on arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearance, and freedom of opinion and expression to urgently follow his case and press Saudi authorities to end the blackout imposed on him and ensure accountability for the violations committed.
More than eight years after his arrest, and more than four years after his complete disappearance, the question remains: where is Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan? A family allowed to hear their son’s voice only twice, then left in total darkness since 2021, is not witnessing justice or law. It is enduring a prolonged form of human punishment that exposes the reality of repression in Saudi Arabia.
