ADHRB at HRC36 Event Summary – Saudi Arabia: The Context of the Paramilitary Operations in Awamiyah and Ongoing Executions

This morning at the United Nations offices in Geneva, Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain hosted a panel on “The Context of the Paramilitary Operations in Awamiyah and Ongoing Executions” as a side event to the 36th session of the UN Human Rights Council. The panelists discussed the ongoing state violence in the[…]

Profiles in Persecution: Samir bin Muhammad al-Hilal

Samir bin Muhammad al-Hilal is a 67-year-old sheikh from Saudi Arabia. On the morning of 16 December 2015, Saudi security forces from the Ministry of Interior detained Samir as he left his home for the day. Though no one has been able to visit him since he was taken away, nor has any information in[…]

ACPRA co-founder Abdulaziz al-Shubaily’s sentence upheld by Court of Appeal

On 31 July 2017, the Saudi human rights defender and lawyer Abdulaziz al-Shubaily was informed that the Court of Appeal in Riyadh had upheld his eight-year prison sentence. He is now at risk of being imprisoned at any time for speaking out against injustices and in defense of victims of human rights violations in Saudi[…]

57 NGOs Call for an Independent International Inquiry into Rights Abuses in Yemen

Today, ADHRB and 56 other national, regional, and international nongovernmental organizations sent a letter to the Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the United Nations Human Rights Council calling on the States to support the creation of an independent international investigation into widespread violations and abuses of human rights on both sides of[…]

US Department of State releases 2016 International Religious Freedom Report on Saudi Arabia

  On 15 August 2017, the US Department of State released its 2016 International Religious Freedom report, which “details the status of religious freedom in 199 countries and territories,” including in Saudi Arabia. In remarks introducing the report, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson specifically criticized Saudi Arabia for the dire status of religious freedom in[…]