More than four and a half years have passed since the arrest of Saudi activist Najwa Ahmed Al-Hamid, who remains imprisoned solely for exercising her peaceful right to freedom of expression. Her case stands as a stark example of the systematic repression faced by women activists in Saudi Arabia, marked not only by arbitrary detention but also by severe violations of human dignity.
Najwa Al-Hamid was arrested on 16 May 2021, when Saudi security forces raided her home, seized her books and electronic devices, and detained her violently in front of her family. At the time of her arrest, authorities failed to provide her family with any legal justification. It later became clear that the real reason for her detention was her online expression, particularly tweets calling for action against unemployment and engaging with discussions on prisoners of conscience and human rights in Saudi Arabia.
Following her arrest, Al-Hamid was subjected to a series of degrading transfers between multiple detention facilities before being placed in Tarfiya Prison in Al-Qassim. During this period, she endured psychological abuse, threats, and coercive interrogations conducted without the presence of a lawyer, rendering all such interrogations unlawful and any statements extracted during them legally invalid.
The Public Prosecution charged Najwa Al-Hamid with vague and politically motivated accusations, including tweeting about unemployment, engaging with hashtags related to prisoners of conscience and human rights, “communicating with suspicious entities,” and following opposition accounts on Twitter. These charges reflect a recurring pattern used by Saudi authorities to criminalize peaceful digital activism.
One of the most severe forms of psychological humiliation inflicted on Najwa Al-Hamid occurred when she was forced, more than a year after her arrest, to appear on Saudi state television (Al-Ikhbariya Channel) in a report promoting what authorities described as the “quality of life inside Saudi prisons.” This coerced appearance was clearly intended to whitewash the government’s image at a time when international reports and testimonies were increasingly documenting torture, verbal and physical abuse, and forced confessions inside Saudi detention facilities.
Forcing a prisoner of conscience to appear in state media to praise detention conditions constitutes a form of psychological coercion and humiliation, and represents a grave violation of human dignity. Such practices contravene international standards that prohibit the use of detainees for propaganda purposes or under conditions of pressure and intimidation.
Najwa Al-Hamid’s arrest took place amid a broader crackdown in May 2021, during which Saudi authorities detained dozens of young activists for their peaceful online expression. Among those arrested during this period were Abdulrahman Al-Sheikh, Asmaa Al-Subaie, Lina Al-Sharif, Yasmin Al-Ghufaili, and Rina Abdulaziz, reflecting a systematic effort to suppress public discourse on economic and human rights issues.
In this context, Together for Justice affirms that detaining individuals for exercising freedom of expression constitutes a direct violation of international human rights law, particularly Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees the right to hold opinions and to seek, receive, and impart information without interference.
The organization calls on Saudi authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Najwa Ahmed Al-Hamid, to end the use of arbitrary detention and psychological humiliation against women activists, and to halt the criminalization of peaceful expression. It further urges the release of all prisoners of conscience detained solely for exercising their fundamental rights.