Prisoner Profile: The Suwaidi Sisters

After posting a tweet that said “I miss my brother,” UAE security forces summoned Asma Khalifa al-Suwaidi and her two sisters to a police station on 15 February 2015. They were not seen or heard from for three months. Prior to their disappearance, the sisters peacefully campaigned on Twitter for the release of their brother,[…]

UN Body Declares Sheikh Ali Salman Arbitrarily Detained

5 November 2015 – Geneva, Switzerland – The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has officially declared Sheikh Ali Salman, the prominent leader of Bahrain’s opposition party al-Wefaq, to be arbitrarily detained by the Bahraini government. The decision, which cites both free expression and due process concerns, requests that the Bahraini government release[…]

Newsletter #128

                    Bahrain | Updates from the Ground | News & Opinion Saudi Arabia | Other Gulf States | UN Complaint Program Bahrain End Impunity: Violence against Journalists in Bahrain   Yesterday marked the anniversary of the 2013 murder of two French journalists in Mali. To commemorate their loss,[…]

Mapping the Saudi State, Chapter 8: The Ministry of Justice

*Best viewed in full-screen mode. In Mapping the Saudi State, Chapter 8: The Ministry of Justice, ADHRB reviews Saudi Arabia’s judiciary. Focusing on the judiciary’s interaction with the criminal justice system, ADHRB finds that Saudi judges, under the watch of the MoJ, lack the independence to adjudicate cases absent monarchical influence; in politically-sensitive cases, they routinely violate[…]

Prisoner Profile: Online Activist Osama al-Najjar

On 17 March 2014, UAE security forces violently arrested Osama al-Najjar after he tweeted a response to remarks made by the Ruler of Sharjah in a radio interview. During the interview, the ruler stated that families of the UAE 94, a group of political prisoners tried en masse in 2013, should not fill their children[…]