The UK Government Turns Its Back on Ahmed Al-Doush – A British Citizen Left to Suffer in Silence
Together for Justice strongly condemns the continued arbitrary detention of Ahmed Al-Doush, a British citizen imprisoned in Saudi Arabia since August 2024, in connection with old social media posts expressing peaceful views. After almost a year of detention, Al-Doush was sentenced, in May 2025, to 10 years in prison, later reduced to eight, following a secret trial that lacked the most basic elements of due process.
Throughout this ordeal, the Saudi authorities have refused to disclose any clear charges, denied him the right to legal representation, and barred his British lawyer from engaging in the proceedings. The use of anti-terror laws to prosecute peaceful expression is not only a violation of international law—it is a deliberate weaponization of the justice system to crush dissent.
Yet perhaps even more disturbing than the Saudi regime’s actions is the shameful inaction of the British government.
Despite repeated pleas from his wife and British legal counsel, Haydee Dijkstal, the Foreign Office has offered little more than bureaucratic stonewalling. One consular visit. No meaningful updates. No transparency. And a refusal to share information with his family—under the guise of “data protection.” The UK government has not only failed Ahmed—it has abandoned him.
Meanwhile, Ahmed remains confined in inhumane conditions, with serious physical and psychological suffering, his health deteriorating while the British state looks the other way.
Ahmed’s case is not an isolated tragedy. He is one of several British citizens arbitrarily detained in authoritarian states with which the UK maintains close political and economic ties. These include:
- Alaa Abd el-Fattah (Egypt)
- Jimmy Lai (Hong Kong)
- Jagtar Singh Johal (India)
- Mehran Raoof (Iran)
- Ryan Cornelius (UAE)
The pattern is clear: Britain’s diplomatic voice is quietest when its interests are loudest.
Together for Justice calls on the UK government to take immediate and public action to secure Ahmed Al-Doush’s release. It must stop hiding behind administrative excuses and start fulfilling its legal and moral duty to protect its citizens—no matter where they are, or who is detaining them.
Failing to act now is not neutrality. It is complicity.
