Saudi Arabia: Abdullah Al Sayel Spends Four Years in Arbitrary Detention
Abdullah Al Sayel, a young Saudi blogger, has been imprisoned for four years as a result of tweets he sent from his X account, formerly Twitter, calling for the release of all political prisoners and activists held in Saudi prisons.
According to sources familiar with the matter, Abdullah was given a five-year prison sentence by the Specialized Criminal Court after it found that his tweets violated Saudi law and threatened the nation’s security.
In September 2019, Abdullah Al-Sayel was detained from his house in the Asir region. Abdullah was later moved to the Abha prison. Neither his family nor a lawyer were allowed to meet with him. After being taken to a secret trial, he was given a five-year prison term.
Prior to his arrest, Abdullah Al Sayel, a young Saudi man, was enrolled at King Khalid University. He was well known for standing up for human rights. Most of his tweets called for democracy, civil rights, and freedom of speech.
The young man’s future has been destroyed because of laws that the Crown Prince himself described as “bad laws,” preventing him from finishing college and making contributions to his society and nation.
We urge the international community to act immediately to put pressure on the Saudi government to free all political prisoners, guarantee their access to all of their rights, and launch investigations into any violations to which they may have been subjected.
