Writers at Risk Database

Fahad Al-Fahad

Al-Fahad was arrested in April 2016 for violating Saudi cybercrime laws with tweets criticizing the Saudi criminal justice system and government corruption. He is currently serving a five year… More

Hatoon Al-Fassi

Al-Fassi is a historian of women’s history, author, columnist, and leading women’s rights activist. On June 27, 2018, Al-Fassi was detained as a part of a crackdown on women's… More

Nadhir Al-Majid

Al-Majid was arrested and sentenced to seven years in prison in January 2017 in connection with an opinion piece he wrote in 2011 titled “I protest, therefore I am,”… More

Marwan Almuraisy

Almuraisy was arrested and forcibly disappeared in June 2018. Though he was a prominent figure on social media, his disappearance puzzled observers because he was not involved in political… More

Writers at Risk Database

Ali Al-Domaini

Pro-democracy activist Al-Domaini was arrested in March 2004 for criticizing Saudi Arabia's National Commission of Human Rights and planning to set up his own organization. In August 2005, he… More

Moqbel Al-Saqqar

A novelist noted for his support of women's rights, Al-Saqqar was arrested in the April 2019 crackdown on writers and journalists in Saudi Arabia. He was detained without access… More

Zana Al-Shahri

Female journalist and writer Al-Shahri was detained as part of a wave of arrests by Saudi authorities in November 2019. She was released in early December. More

Essam Al-Zamil

Essam Al-Zamil

A well-known economist, Al-Zamil was detained in September 2017 for his writing criticizing Aramco, the Saudi national oil company, and its inflated valuation on the stock market. He reportedly… More

Adel Banaima

Banaima, a lecturer at the University of Umm Al-Qura in Mecca and editor-in-chief of Jusoor Magazine, was arrested and detained without charge in September 2017. Information about his status… More

Fayez Bin Damakh

In September 2017, poet and reporter Bin Damakh was reported missing days before he was due to launch a TV news channel in Kuwait. Local press reports suggest he… More