Dr Mubarak bin Saeed bin Zuair is a Saudi academic and human rights defender. He is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Arabic Language at Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh who was arrested on 04 October 2017 as part of a broad campaign by Saudi security forces against human rights defenders, academics, writers and media professionals advocating reform, and was detained without transparent charges by the Saudi authorities in connection with his activism defending prisoners of conscience and promoting human rights, including having been previously removed from his teaching post and transferred to administrative work to limit his contact with students prior to his latest arrest. According to reports from 26 August 2025 he remains in arbitrary detention under conditions that violate his fundamental rights and freedoms, with international human rights organisations calling for his immediate and unconditional release on the grounds that his continued incarceration and the absence of a fair and transparent legal process constitute blatant violations of international human rights law and Saudi Arabia’s obligations to protect freedom of expression and academic freedom.