The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) has received information that on 6 August 2013, detained human rights defender Mohammed Saleh Al-Bajadi was released from Al- Ha’ir prison where the human rights defender was reportedly detained after having been held for over two years.

Al-Bajadi, 35 years, was arrested at his home in Buraidah, Al-Qassim province by security forces on 21 March 2011 and remains in detention since. He is a co-founder of the Saudi Civil & Political Rights Association (ACPRA), which was founded in October 2009 in Saudi Arabia. He was previously the host of a weekly on-line forum called “The citizen and his rights”.

On 10 April 2012, the Special Criminal Court in Riyadh, established to try terrorism and security-related offences, reportedly held a secret session during which a four-year prison sentence was handed down. The charges of which he was allegedly found guilty include: being in possession of banned books, contesting the independence of the judiciary, harming the image of the state through the media and calling on the families of political detainees to protest. He was on hunger strike three times during his imprisonment to protest against his ill-treatment and arbitrary detention.

While welcoming the release of Mohammed Al-Bajadi, the GCHR calls on the authorities in Saudi Arabia to:

1. Immediately and unconditionally release all the detained human rights defenders and drop all the charges against them, as the GCHR believes that the charges are solely related to their legitimate human rights work;

1. 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, recognises 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 1 “Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels ” and to Article 12 (1) and  (2):  “(1) Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to participate in peaceful activities against violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms. (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.”