[Abu al-Khair is featured in this video about how social media is challenging the status quo in Saudi Arabia.]
Samar Badawi, the wife of Waleed Abu al-Khair, said that authorities allowed him to speak to her by phone for one minute on April 17, 2014.
(Beirut) – Saudi authorities should immediately release prominent human rights activist Waleed Abu al-Khair and drop all charges against him.
Saudi Arabia’s Specialized Criminal Court ordered Abu al-Khair’s detention when he attended a hearing in his case on April 15, 2014. Since his arrest the authorities have not allowed him to contact family members, who had no knowledge of his whereabouts for 24 hours. Abu al-Khair faces charges based solely on his peaceful human rights work, including “breaking allegiance with the ruler” and “making international organizations hostile to the kingdom.”
“Saudi authorities have repeatedly harassed Abu al-Khair for his human rights work, and now they’ve suddenly jailed him without letting him notify his family,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should free Abu al-Khair immediately and drop the charges against him.”
On February 4, Abu al-Khair lost an appeal of a separate Jeddah Criminal Court conviction for signing statements critical of Saudi authorities, and received a prison sentence of three months. It is unclear whether his detention is connected with the Jeddah conviction. Police in Jeddah arrested Abu al-Khair on October 2, 2013 and held him for one night for hosting a weekly discussion group for reformists, but prosecutors have yet to file criminal charges in that case.
Abu al-Khair attended the fifth session of his trial before the Specialized Criminal Court on the morning of April 15, travelling from his home in Jeddah to Riyadh. A lawyer, Abu al-Khair is representing himself during the proceeding and did not bring family members or trial monitors to the hearing. After several hours, Abu al-Khair’s organization, the Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, released a Facebook statement stating that Abu al-Khair had gone missing and could not be reached by his mobile phone, which was switched off.