human rights defender
Waleed Abu Al-Khair
Actions and Campaigns
Waleed Abu Al-Khair
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER
Urgent support needed
Waleed Abu Al-Khair suffers from diabetes, which is a chronic condition that requires a special diet and certain medications. He has been denied medical care.
Organization affiliation
- Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia
HRD's year of birth
1979
HRD's Gender
Man
Type of HRD
- Lawyer
HRD's thematic area of engagement
- Civil and political rights
Current Status
In prison (sentenced)
HRD's bio and work
Abu Al-Khair is a prominent human rights lawyer and founder of the Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia. He has been a fierce advocate for democratic reforms in the country and provided legal representation for many victims of human rights abuses. He received several awards in the field of human rights, including the Olof Palme Award in 2012, the Right Livelihood Award in 2018 and the American Bar Association 2019 Human Rights Award. Abu Al-Khair’s advocacy for human rights has also been recently recognised by the Anna Dahlbäck’s Memorial Fund Award 2024.
Detained since
Apr 15, 2014
Charge(s)
- Creating disturbances
Sentence
15 years in prison
Allegations / reports of ill-treatment
Waleed Abu Al-Khair has been repeatedly subjected to several forms of ill-treatment and abuses in prison. Abu Al-Khair was a victim of torture, beatings by inmates, solitary confinements, sleep deprivation, restricted visits, denial of proper food, medical care, and books. This frequent mistreatment caused Abu Al-Khair to go on several hunger strikes over the last few years with partial response to his demands.
Latitude: 21.853334330937034
Longitude: 39.13411062220247
Geolocation of detention
Country or area of detention
Region of detention
- Western Asia
Location of detention - City/Town
Jeddah
Location of detention - Facility
Dahban prison
Recent case update / evolution
Abu Al-Khair was sentenced to 15 years in prison, followed by a 15 year travel ban. The court found him guilty on six charges: seeking to remove legitimate authority; harming public order in the state and its officials; inflaming public opinion and disparaging and insulting judicial authority; publicly slandering the judiciary, distorting the kingdom’s reputation, making international organizations hostile to the kingdom, and issuing unverified statements that harm the kingdom’s reputation and incite against it and alienate it; founding an unlicensed organization; and violating Saudi Arabia’s anti-cybercrime law. Abu Al-Khair was the first human rights advocate to be tried at the then newly-established Specialised Criminal Court that was tasked of ruling on terror-related crimes but often used to imprison human rights defenders.
On 12 March 2024, the Saudi authorities refused a hospital transfer for Abu al-Khair, denying him access to medical care.
Attachments
Documented by
- Country(ies) of nationality
- HRD's year of birth
- 1979
- HRD's Gender
- Man
- Type of HRD
- Lawyer
- HRD's thematic area of engagement
- Civil and political rights
- Organization affiliation
- Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia
- HRD's Picture
- HRD's bio and work
Abu Al-Khair is a prominent human rights lawyer and founder of the Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia. He has been a fierce advocate for democratic reforms in the country and provided legal representation for many victims of human rights abuses. He received several awards in the field of human rights, including the Olof Palme Award in 2012, the Right Livelihood Award in 2018 and the American Bar Association 2019 Human Rights Award. Abu Al-Khair’s advocacy for human rights has also been recently recognised by the Anna Dahlbäck’s Memorial Fund Award 2024.
- Country or area of detention
- Region of detention
- Western Asia
- Location of detention - City/Town
- Jeddah
- Location of detention - Facility
- Dahban prison
- Geolocation of detention
Latitude: 21.853334330937034
Longitude: 39.13411062220247
- Geolocation of detention
- Detained since
- Apr 15, 2014
- Current Status
- In prison (sentenced)
- Charge(s)
- Creating disturbances
- Sentence
15 years in prison
- Recent case update / evolution
Abu Al-Khair was sentenced to 15 years in prison, followed by a 15 year travel ban. The court found him guilty on six charges: seeking to remove legitimate authority; harming public order in the state and its officials; inflaming public opinion and disparaging and insulting judicial authority; publicly slandering the judiciary, distorting the kingdom’s reputation, making international organizations hostile to the kingdom, and issuing unverified statements that harm the kingdom’s reputation and incite against it and alienate it; founding an unlicensed organization; and violating Saudi Arabia’s anti-cybercrime law. Abu Al-Khair was the first human rights advocate to be tried at the then newly-established Specialised Criminal Court that was tasked of ruling on terror-related crimes but often used to imprison human rights defenders.
On 12 March 2024, the Saudi authorities refused a hospital transfer for Abu al-Khair, denying him access to medical care.
- Allegations / reports of ill-treatment
Waleed Abu Al-Khair has been repeatedly subjected to several forms of ill-treatment and abuses in prison. Abu Al-Khair was a victim of torture, beatings by inmates, solitary confinements, sleep deprivation, restricted visits, denial of proper food, medical care, and books. This frequent mistreatment caused Abu Al-Khair to go on several hunger strikes over the last few years with partial response to his demands.
- Protection actions and campaigns
- Urgent support needed
Waleed Abu Al-Khair suffers from diabetes, which is a chronic condition that requires a special diet and certain medications. He has been denied medical care.
- Documented by
- Consent status
- Consent to register, store and publish the information
Supporting files
sorted by
Date added
5 relationships, 4 entities