Saudi Academic Dr. Mohammed Al-Hudhaif: Nine Years Behind Bars for Defending National Sovereignty
As he enters his tenth year in Saudi prisons, Saudi writer and academic Dr. Mohammed Al-Hudhaif remains unjustly detained, sentenced to 13 years in prison solely for exercising his legitimate right to freedom of expression and for criticising the UAE regime’s interference in Saudi Arabia’s internal affairs.
On 19 March 2016, Dr. Al-Hudhaif was arbitrarily arrested at Riyadh airport upon his return from Turkey, after he posted a tweet questioning the legitimacy of the UAE’s involvement in Saudi domestic matters and its incitement campaigns against Saudi civil society organisations. Rather than responding through dialogue, Saudi authorities chose to imprison him under vague charges, most notably “insulting a friendly state.”
Since his arrest, Dr. Al-Hudhaif has been denied access to legal representation and subjected to a secret trial that fell far short of international fair trial standards. He was initially sentenced to five years in prison and a five-year travel ban. This sentence was later increased to nine years, and finally extended to 13 years in early 2023—an appalling example of political retaliation for peaceful expression.
His case cannot be separated from the close alliance between the Saudi and Emirati regimes. According to informed sources, Al-Hudhaif’s arrest followed a direct complaint from the Abu Dhabi government, which was then amplified by an online defamation campaign spearheaded by state-backed troll networks seeking to damage his reputation and incite action against him.
Dr. Al-Hudhaif is neither a criminal nor an outlaw. He is a respected academic and reform-minded intellectual with an honourable professional and scholarly background. He graduated with honours from King Saud University, earned a Master’s degree in Media Theories from the University of Kansas, and completed a PhD in Journalism and Public Relations from the University of Wales in the UK. He founded the Committee for the Defence of Legitimate Rights in 1993, authored numerous publications, and appeared on various television programmes inside and outside the Kingdom.
The continued detention of Dr. Al-Hudhaif is not only a flagrant violation of human rights and freedom of expression but also a stark illustration of the Saudi regime’s subservience to external dictates and its abdication of national sovereignty in favour of questionable regional agendas.
We call for the immediate and unconditional release of Dr. Mohammed Al-Hudhaif and accountability for all those responsible for the serious violations he has endured. We further urge the United Nations and its relevant mechanisms, particularly the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, to take urgent action to condemn this political injustice and pressure the Saudi regime to end its systematic crackdown on dissent.
