Abdulrahman Al-Khalidi is a Saudi human rights defender who has spent over a decade advocating for prisoners’ rights and participating in protests supporting Saudi detainees. In 2013, Al-Khalidi fled Saudi Arabia, and lived in exile in Qatar, Turkey, and Egypt before seeking asylum in Bulgaria. In May 2022, Bulgarian authorities denied Al-Khalidi’s asylum request, dismissing the risk of persecution in Saudi Arabia. Al-Khalidi remains in detention under abusive conditions, including physical mistreatment and denial of medical care. In February 2024, Bulgaria’s National Security Agency issued an expulsion order against Al-Khalidi, and on 21 October 2024, the Sofia Administrative Court upheld his deportation to Saudi Arabia. Forcing Al-Khalidi’s return to Saudi Arabia would violate Bulgaria’s obligation of non-refoulement under domestic, European and international law, which prohibits sending individuals to countries where they face a risk of torture or ill-treatment. In response, 20 human rights organisations have called on Bulgarian authorities to halt his deportation and facilitate his resettlement to a third country.

The Bulgarian State Agency for National Security (DANS) issued another order on 26 September 2025 to continue his detention. The latest decision by the DANS to extend Al-Khalidi’s detention, came in violation of the Administrative Court decision to grant him release from the detention centre in March 2025. Instead of releasing him, Bulgarian authorities promptly transferred him to a deportation centre, with poor living conditions, in what seems like an attempt to prevent his release.