human rights defender
Amani Al-Zain
Actions and Campaigns
HRD's Gender
Woman
Type of HRD
- Journalist/Blogger
HRD's thematic area of engagement
- Civil and political rights
Current Status
In prison (pre-trial)
HRD's bio and work
Amani Al-Zain is an Internet activist from Saudi Arabia. Al-Zain used her Twitter account to express her different opinions. She has been an opponent of the arrests and killings by the authorities of a large number of human rights defenders, including journalists and Internet activists. She worked as a Human Resources Manager at the Hala Group of Companies in the Middle East.
Detained since
May 17, 2020
Latitude: 23.43737696485943
Longitude: 44.58251953125001
Geolocation of detention
Country or area of detention
Region of detention
- Asia: Western Asia
Allegations / reports of ill-treatment
Al-Zain has not been allowed to contact her family so far, and has also been denied access to a lawyer. She was placed in solitary confinement following her arrest, and has been interrogated for long hours late at night by interrogators who constantly threatened her.
Recent case update / evolution
Amani Al-Zain was arrested by the Presidency of State Security based on direct orders issued by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. She remains in detention in an unknown location since her arrest in Jeddah. Her arrest was likely connected to an old recording of a video chat between Al-Zain and Egyptian Internet activist Wael Ghonim. This video has spread widely on social networks in which Al-Zain called the Saudi crown prince by the nickname “Abu Munshar” (“father of the saw”), referring to the order he issued to kill journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whose body was cut up with a saw at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 02 October 2018. During the above-mentioned video chat, which originally published on 15 October 2019, the two are seen joking about freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia. Her arrest came after a large Twitter campaign bearing the Arabic hashtag #Amani_AlZain_insulting_Crown_Prince was initiated by an online army of government supporters who called for her arrest.
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