Rina Abdelaziz spends two years in arbitrary detention

Blogger Rina Abdelaziz has spent two years in arbitrary detention since her arrest on May 13, 2021. Since then, she has neither been released nor brought to trial.

Rina Abdelaziz, 20, was detained in Qassim province for advocating human rights on social media.

The university student was subjected to enforced disappearance and arbitrary imprisonment despite her difficult detention condition, as she suffers from a bacterial lung disease.

In detention, she was subjected to deliberate medical negligence, deepening her suffering.

The Saudi authorities have frequently targeted activists for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and association.

In 2021, the Saudi authorities launched a massive arrest campaign against dozens of young social media activists for peacefully exercising their right to free expression, including Abdul Rahman Al-Sheikh, Asma Al-Subaie, Lina Al-Sharif, Yasmine Al-Ghofaili, and Najwa Al-Hamid, who peacefully voiced their opinions on the X platform, also known as Twitter.

In this regard, Together for Justice pointed out that detaining people on freedom of expression charges violates international agreements and charters and constitutes a clear violation of human rights. Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

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Together for Justice also calls on Saudi Arabian authorities to stop extrajudicial arrest and summons campaigns, release all those detained on freedom of expression charges, and stop prosecuting and criminalising peaceful activism.