Together for Justice recalls the case of Saudi human rights activist Zaki Al-Ashtaf, whose news has been cut off since his arrest in 2015. More than 11 years later, he remains forcibly disappeared, with no official disclosure of his place of detention, health condition, legal status, or the progress of any judicial proceedings against him.
Al-Ashtaf’s case is not linked to any known violent act or recognizable criminal offence. He was targeted over his support for prisoners of conscience in Saudi Arabia and his solidarity with their families. He was among the signatories of the 2013 “Statement of Detainees’ Families”, which called for basic and legitimate demands: disclosing the fate of detainees, guaranteeing their rights, and releasing them.
Instead of treating these demands as lawful human rights expression, Saudi authorities turned them into grounds for repression. Since his arrest, Al-Ashtaf’s case has been surrounded by total silence. There is no confirmed information about where he is being held, no publicly announced charges, and no transparency over whether he has ever been brought before a court.
The continued disappearance of Zaki Al-Ashtaf for all these years is a grave violation. Enforced disappearance is not merely the absence of information; it removes a person from the protection of the law, denies access to family and legal counsel, and leaves the victim exposed to torture, ill-treatment, and medical neglect without independent oversight.
The concern is even greater given information that Al-Ashtaf suffers from multiple health conditions. Continuing to hide him while denying his family any knowledge of his health status amounts to a compounded violation. Saudi authorities bear full responsibility for his life, safety, medical care, and any deterioration he may have suffered during years of unknown detention.
Punishing a person for showing solidarity with prisoners of conscience exposes the expanding scope of repression in Saudi Arabia. The authorities are not only imprisoning opinion-holders themselves; they are also targeting those who sympathize with them, demand disclosure of their fate, or sign human rights statements calling for their release. In this context, solidarity itself becomes a charge.
Together for Justice stresses that the enforced disappearance of Zaki Al-Ashtaf for more than 11 years violates his right to liberty and security of person, his right to know and have his fate known, his right to communicate with his family and lawyer, his right to a fair and public trial, and his right to be protected from torture and cruel or inhuman treatment.
The organization also emphasizes that the prolonged official silence surrounding his case is part of the violation itself. His family is not only denied contact with him; they are left for years in uncertainty, unable to know whether he is alive, where he is held, what his health condition is, or whether he has been subjected to torture or medical neglect.
Together for Justice calls on the Saudi authorities to immediately disclose Zaki Al-Ashtaf’s place of detention, health condition, and legal status, and to allow his family and lawyer to communicate with him without restriction. The organization also calls for urgent and independent medical care to be provided to him.
Together for Justice further calls for his immediate and unconditional release, an independent investigation into the circumstances of his arrest and disappearance, and accountability for all those involved in denying him his basic rights or concealing his fate over the past years. Zaki Al-Ashtaf was not disappeared because he committed a crime. He was disappeared because he stood with prisoners of conscience and demanded their rights. After more than 11 years of silence, his case remains a stark reminder of a reality in which speech is punished, solidarity is criminalized, and those who defend freedom are pushed into the unknown.