In 2015, Saudi Arabia’s Justice Ministry stated that its courts saw 8,016 domestic violence cases in a one-year period. The majority of these cases were reported in Riyadh, Mekkah, and the Eastern Province, and included reports of psychological and physical abuse of both women and children. Because so many cases of domestic violence go[…]
18
Jul
Jul
Government-sponsored oppression of Shia in Saudi Arabia is well documented. But government oppression also affects the populace more broadly, through legislation which violates fundamental human rights. Several widely-used laws criminalize political and religious criticism of the king, state, or religious establishment, contravening the universal right to freedom of opinion and expression. The government utilizes three[…]
14
Jul
Jul
The participation of Saudi men and women in the 2011 Arab Spring protests placed significant pressure on the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia to make social, political, and economic reforms. In particular, women’s rights activists leveraged the influence of social media on the Arab Spring to bring attention to the lack of women’s rights granted by the[…]
08
Jul
Jul
In March 2013, the Saudi government forced the Saudi Arabian Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) to close. ACPRA was a prominent human rights organization, and one of the few independent civil society organizations in the country. On 29 May 2016, the government’s Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) sentenced ACPRA’s last free co-founder, Abdulaziz al-Shubaily, to[…]
04
Jul
Jul
Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was not always a prominent cleric in Saudi Arabia, but by the time of his execution on 2 January 2016, he had become a symbol of Shia demands for political equality. He began to rise in prominence and popularity in the wake of confrontations between Shia pilgrims and the Saudi[…]
