human rights defender
Issa Al-Hamid
Actions and Campaigns
Organization affiliation
- Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA)
HRD's year of birth
1967
HRD's Gender
Man
Type of HRD
- Lawyer
- NGO member
HRD's thematic area of engagement
- Civil and political rights
Current Status
In prison (sentenced)
HRD's bio and work
Issa Al-Hamid is a lawyer and founding member and President of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA). ACPRA is a human rights organisation founded on 12 October 2009, which filed local lawsuits against the Ministry of Interior and reported human rights violations to the UN Human Rights Council and the Special Procedures. The organisation peacefully advocated for a constitutional monarchy, a universally elected parliament, an independent judiciary and for the protection of fair trial rights in the country. Despite the association’s efforts to register with the authorities, it was never granted an official licence to operate. ACPRA was banned by a court decision dated 9 April 9 2013, which ordered the organisation’s dissolution following an arbitrary process that could not be challenged. Issa's two brothers, Dr. Abdullah Al-Hamid and Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Hamid, were both imprisoned for their human rights activism. Tragically, Abdullah passed away in prison in April 2020 due to medical neglect.
Detained since
Sep 16, 2017
Charge(s)
- Creating disturbances
Sentence
9 years
Latitude: 26.2033
Longitude: 43.95649
Geolocation of detention
Country or area of detention
Region of detention
- Asia: Western Asia
Location of detention - City/Town
Al-Qassim
Location of detention - Facility
Onazya Prison
Allegations / reports of ill-treatment
In April 2020, Al-Hamid was placed in solitary confinement for approximately ten days.
Recent case update / evolution
On 24 April 2016, the Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh sentenced Issa Al-Hamid to nine years in prison followed by another nine years of travel ban and a fine of 100,000 Saudi Riyals (26,660 USD). When the case went to the Appeals court it was sent back with notes that suggested adding two more years to the original sentence and a fine in addition to making the travel ban 11 years. He was charged with “incitement to demonstrate”, “harming the credibility of religious authorities”, “insulting the Saudi authorities by describing them as a police state which violates human rights” and “refusing to comply with court decision concerning the dissolution of ACPRA”.
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