Zuhair Kutbi: Saudi Writer Facing Cancer and Medical Neglect Behind Bars Since 2019

Together for Justice condemns the continued detention of Saudi writer, journalist, and academic Zuhair Kutbi, who has been imprisoned since 10 January 2019 in his second detention after an earlier imprisonment between 2015 and 2017 over his writings and reformist views. His continued detention, despite his age and reported cancer and diabetes, poses a direct threat to his life and constitutes a grave violation of his rights to liberty and healthcare.

Zuhair Kutbi is not an ordinary case in Saudi Arabia’s record of repression. He is a well-known writer, journalist, and academic with publications and studies on politics, thought, and social issues. His public voice has long been associated with calls for political reform and wider public debate, before that voice became a reason for prosecution, a writing ban, and imprisonment. The Committee to Protect Journalists confirms that Kutbi was previously imprisoned from July 2015 to November 2017, and that Saudi authorities banned him from writing as one of the conditions of his release.

On 10 January 2019, Saudi authorities arrested Kutbi again during a raid on his home in Mecca. According to ALQST, he was taken to Mansoura police detention centre, where he was beaten and humiliated. ALQST documents the charges against him as including “stirring up public opinion,” “agitating,” and “diminishing people’s respect for the regime” — vague accusations commonly used to punish peaceful expression and independent opinion.

Since his arrest, human rights concerns over his health have continued to grow. CPJ reported that Kutbi was denied treatment for cancer and diabetes, and that reports described solitary confinement, malnourishment, denial of medical care, and alleged torture. In June 2024, SANAD reported that he suffers from prostate cancer and diabetes, and that his health had deteriorated in prison due to medical neglect and months in solitary confinement.

Holding a cancer patient in harsh prison conditions while denying or delaying adequate medical treatment cannot be treated as ordinary punishment. Medical neglect in detention, particularly in cases involving serious and chronic illness, can become an additional and undeclared punishment, designed to exhaust the prisoner physically and psychologically and silence him slowly.

The case is especially alarming because Kutbi is not accused of violence or any genuine criminal act. His persecution is linked to his writings, views, and reformist positions. Reporters Without Borders described him as “a cancer patient detained without trial,” noting that he has remained behind bars since his 2019 re-arrest and that his health continues to deteriorate in prison.

Zuhair Kutbi’s case exposes how Saudi authorities treat independent words as a security threat. Instead of protecting a writer’s right to express criticism, opinion is turned into a security file, writing into a charge, and illness into a tool of pressure inside prison. This pattern does not target Kutbi alone; it sends a warning to every journalist, writer, or academic who may consider criticizing the authorities or calling for political reform.

Together for Justice stresses that Kutbi’s continued detention violates his right to liberty and security of person, his right to freedom of opinion and expression, his right to a fair trial, and his right to adequate healthcare without discrimination or retaliation. Saudi authorities bear full responsibility for his physical and psychological safety and for any further deterioration in his condition.

Together for Justice calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Zuhair Kutbi, urgent access to proper medical treatment outside the prison environment, full disclosure of his health and legal status, and an independent investigation into the beating, humiliation, and denial of healthcare he has reportedly suffered.

Zuhair Kutbi’s imprisonment since January 2019, while he faces cancer and medical neglect, is not merely an arbitrary detention case. It is a direct threat to the life of a writer punished for expressing his views. Saving his life begins with his immediate release.