Saudi Arabia: 2 New Arrests of Activists

Then-Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends a graduation ceremony at King Faisal Air College in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, January 25, 2017. © 2017 Reuters

(Beirut) – Saudi authorities have arrested at least two more human rights activists since May 15, 2018, when it began a large-scale crackdown on women’s rights activists and other supporters, Human Rights Watch said today. Saudi activists fear more arrests are forthcoming, as the crackdown overshadows the expected government announcement that the ban on women driving is to end in June.

On May 24, Saudi Authorities arrested Mohammed al-Bajadi, a founding member of the now-banned Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), one of Saudi Arabia’s first civic organizations. Since 2012, the authorities have prosecuted nearly all activists associated with the group, which a Saudi court dissolved and disbanded in 2013. Saudi activists have told Human Rights Watch that the second detainee, whose family asked that he not be identified, has since been released. The conditions of his release have not been made public.

“The Saudi government seems so consumed with silencing dissent that even activists who have gone quiet for fear of retribution are being targeted again,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The Saudi authorities should be concerned that the chill created by this new wave of repression will lead the country’s allies to question how serious Saudi Arabia is about changing its approach to women’s rights.”