On 24 February 2014, human rights lawyer Waleed Abu Al-Khair was informed that the Court of Appeal in Mecca upheld a prison sentence against him. The three-month sentence, which was handed down by the Criminal Court in Jeddah in October 2013, related to a petition he, and 64 others, signed about the trial of Jeddah reformists and events of Qatif in December 2011.  The sentence is set to come into force in the next few days.

Judge Abdulmajeed Al-Shwehi on behalf of the Criminal Court in Jeddah signed the letter outlining the Court of Appeal’s decision. In the correspondence he accused Waleed Abu Al-Khair of committing contempt against the judiciary. The human rights lawyer had signed the petition as head of the NGO Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia (MHRSA).  The statement, signed by 64 human rights defenders, activists and academics, called on authorities to renounce violence and to seek solutions for sectarian, territorial and tribal discrimination in all its forms; and to release political prisoners and prisoners of conscience.

The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) issued an appeal on his case when the sentence was handed down last year (For further information see appeal dated 29 October 2013). Waleed Abu Al-Khair is a prominent human rights lawyer who was awarded the human rights Olof Palme Prize in 2012 for his “strong, self-sacrificing and sustained struggle to promote respect for human and civil rights for both men and women in Saudi Arabia.”

The GCHR believes that the upholding of the sentence of Waleed Abu Al-Khair is solely related to his peaceful and legitimate human rights activities and exercise of his profession as a lawyer. The GCHR is very concerned at the targeting of Waleed Abu Al-Khair and other human rights defenders as they carry out their work in the promotion and protection of human rights.  

The GCHR urges the authorities in Saudi Arabia to: 

1. Immediately and unconditionally revoke the three-month sentence issued against Waleed Abu Al-Khair;
2. Take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity and security of Waleed Abu Al-Khair and other human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia.
3. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment. 

GCHR respectfully reminds you that the United Nations Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, adopted by consensus by the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1998, recognizes the legitimacy of the activities of human rights defenders, their right to freedom of association and to carry out their activities without fear of reprisals. We would particularly draw your attention to Article 5(b) “For the purpose of promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms, everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, at the national and international levels:(b) To form, join and participate in non-governmental organizations, associations or groups;” and to Article 12 (2): “The State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration.”