Saudi Arabia
Long considered one of the most restrictive countries in the world, Saudi Arabia’s political and civil rights are almost nonexistent. In the 2023 Freedom to Write Index, the country had 19 writers in prison, with 47 more at risk. Since coming to power, de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman has presided over a brutal crackdown on all forms of dissent, with especially vicious attacks on women and religious minorities, and a renewed wave of arrests targeting activists, journalists, and intellectuals.
What You Need to Know
Among those who have been detained and faced charges as a result of their activism are the 2019 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award honorees Eman Al-Nafjan, Loujain Al-Hathloul, and Nouf Abdulaziz. Even after release, many writers face travel bans and restrictions on their expression.
The murder of exiled Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Türkiye in 2018 sparked an international outcry and showed the horrific lengths to which the Saudi regime will go to silence its critics.
The use of draconian sentences against social media users indicates authorities’ interest in closing all avenues for unsanctioned expression.
News
Individual Cases
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Ali Al-Domaini
Status: DeceasedPro-democracy activist Al-Domaini was arrested in March 2004 for criticizing Saudi Arabia’s National Commission of Human Rights and planning to… More
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Ashraf Fayadh
Status: ReleasedFayadh, a poet and artist, was jailed on charges of apostasy for writing about humanistic themes in his poetry collection… More
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Raif Badawi
Status: Conditional ReleaseBadawi was arrested in 2012 and sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for “insulting Islam” and “founding… More
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Loujain Al-Hathloul
Status: Conditional ReleaseAl-Hathloul, a women’s rights advocate, was detained in a sweep of arrests in May 2018 and held for 1,000 days… More
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Eman Al-Nafjan
Status: On TrialColumnist Al-Nafjan was detained in May 2018 in relation to her women’s rights advocacy. While in prison, she was reportedly… More
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Nouf Abdulaziz
Status: Conditional ReleaseColumnist and women’s rights activist Abdulaziz was arrested and detained in June 2018. While in detention, she was reportedly tortured… More
PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award 2019 Honorees
Writers Nouf Abdulaziz, Loujain Al-Hathloul, and Eman Al-Nafjan were honored with the 2019 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award. These writer-activists have been subjected to imprisonment, solitary confinement, and torture by the Saudi Arabian government as part of its brutal crackdown on individuals who raise their voices in defense of women’s rights in the Kingdom.
