human rights defender
Osama Khalid
Actions and Campaigns
Osama Khalid
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER
HRD's year of birth
1994
HRD's Gender
Man
Type of HRD
- Journalist/Blogger
HRD's thematic area of engagement
- Digital rights
Status
In prison (sentenced)
HRD's bio and work
Osama Khalid is a Saudi pediatrician, blogger, and prominent Wikipedian. Active in the field of information technology since 2006, he founded the Computer Club in 2013. He also managed an online medical cloud platform, where medical students collaborated to create a comprehensive digital library of resources. A dedicated Wikipedian, he volunteered countless hours to enrich the free encyclopedia in Arabic, championing values of transparency and open access to information. He had edited articles about woman human rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul. He is one of Saudi Arabia’s most public-facing and well-known internet freedom advocates. His own Wikipedia page states that his work as part of Wikipedia has had a huge impact on his life, and that defending and promoting internet freedom was one of his priorities.
Detained since
Jul 1, 2020
Charge(s)
- Creating disturbances
Sentence
32 YEARS
Latitude: 24.44906
Longitude: 46.81298
Geolocation of detention
Country or area of detention
Region of detention
- Asia: Western Asia
Location of detention - City/Town
Riyadh
Location of Detention - Facility
Al-Ha’ir Prison
Allegations / reports of ill-treatment
Little is known about Osama Khalid's case, which is shrouded in secrecy. What is known is that in the summer of 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown, Osama Khalid and his fellow doctor and Wikipedian Ziyad Al-Sufyani were swept up in a wave of arbitrary arrests. It has been reported that observers were also denied access to court hearings.
Recent case update / evolution
Osama Khalid was arrested in July 2020 (specific date unknown) and initially sentenced to five years in prison by the Specialized Criminal Court on charges related to provoking public opinion. However, his sentence was increased to 32 years on appeal. The world remained unaware of his plight until two years later, and to this day, the specific charges against him remain undisclosed.
On 11 March 2025, ALQST for Human Rights reported that his colleague Ziad Al-Sufyani had been freed but Osama Khalid remains in prison.
Attachments
Documented by
- Country(ies) of nationality
- HRD's year of birth
- 1994
- HRD's Gender
- Man
- Type of HRD
- Journalist/Blogger
- HRD's thematic area of engagement
- Digital rights
- HRD's Picture
- HRD's bio and work
Osama Khalid is a Saudi pediatrician, blogger, and prominent Wikipedian. Active in the field of information technology since 2006, he founded the Computer Club in 2013. He also managed an online medical cloud platform, where medical students collaborated to create a comprehensive digital library of resources. A dedicated Wikipedian, he volunteered countless hours to enrich the free encyclopedia in Arabic, championing values of transparency and open access to information. He had edited articles about woman human rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul. He is one of Saudi Arabia’s most public-facing and well-known internet freedom advocates. His own Wikipedia page states that his work as part of Wikipedia has had a huge impact on his life, and that defending and promoting internet freedom was one of his priorities.
- Country or area of detention
- Region of detention
- Asia: Western Asia
- Location of detention - City/Town
- Riyadh
- Location of Detention - Facility
- Al-Ha’ir Prison
- Geolocation of detention
Latitude: 24.44906
Longitude: 46.81298
- Geolocation of detention
- Detained since
- Jul 1, 2020
- Status
- In prison (sentenced)
- Charge(s)
- Creating disturbances
- Sentence
32 YEARS
- Recent case update / evolution
Osama Khalid was arrested in July 2020 (specific date unknown) and initially sentenced to five years in prison by the Specialized Criminal Court on charges related to provoking public opinion. However, his sentence was increased to 32 years on appeal. The world remained unaware of his plight until two years later, and to this day, the specific charges against him remain undisclosed.
On 11 March 2025, ALQST for Human Rights reported that his colleague Ziad Al-Sufyani had been freed but Osama Khalid remains in prison.
- Allegations / reports of ill-treatment
Little is known about Osama Khalid's case, which is shrouded in secrecy. What is known is that in the summer of 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown, Osama Khalid and his fellow doctor and Wikipedian Ziyad Al-Sufyani were swept up in a wave of arbitrary arrests. It has been reported that observers were also denied access to court hearings.
- Protection actions and campaigns
- Documented by
- Consent status
- Consent to register, store and publish the information
Supporting files
sorted by
Date added
5 relationships, 4 entities