Saudi Arabia
Human Rights
Right to Freedom of Expression
1. The fundamental rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association cannot be practiced in Saudi Arabia without fear of repercussion in the form of arrest, detention or death. Saudi authorities have regularly arrested and detained persons for peaceful activism and speech including journalism and online postings. Individuals who have been arrested and detained in a response to their peaceful speech include human rights defenders,[i] women’s rights activists,[ii] environmental activists,[iii] and tribal representatives.[iv]
2. People arrested in response to exercising their freedom of expression are not guaranteed due process or the right to a fair trial. Saudi Arabia’s Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) is often used to try the cases of activists and critics of the government.[v] The rights to a fair trial and due process are not afforded in this court due to vague charges that are not clearly defined in law, reliance coerced confessions, and lack of access to legal representation.[vi]
3. Trials in the SCC and other Saudi Arabian Courts are not open and transparent. Independent observers such as human rights activists and diplomats have not been allowed to observe the trials since at least 2019.[vii] This is the case for trials of both Saudi nationals and foreign citizens. Additionally, it has been reported that family members of accused individuals also were denied access to SCC hearings.[viii] We recommend that Saudi Arabia once again allows diplomats and other human rights observers to attend and observe trials as it did in 2013, a recommendation that Saudi Arabia endorsed during the last UPR cycle.
4. Convictions of activists in Saudi Arabia can result in long prison sentences, or even death.[ix] In 2022, the Specialized Criminal Court convicted and sentenced at least 15 individuals to between 15 and 45 years in person for peaceful expression or association, including peaceful online speech.[x] The death penalty has also been used as a sentence for speech related crimes. During the last UPR cycle, Saudi Arabia endorsed the recommendation to forgo the application of the death penalty or at least restrict it to the most serious crimes. We raise concern on the continued use of the death penalty to target both non-serious offenders and political prisoners.[xi]
5. Instances of torture and cruel and inhuman treatment are reported among detainees in both pre-trial and post-conviction detention.[xii] While we commend Saudi Arabia for ratifying the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, more must be done to prevent torture and other inhuman treatment in Saudi Arabia’s detention centers. Additionally, report of torture and cruel treatment of detainees goes against Saudi Arabia’s Law of Criminal Procedure which states that “a person under arrest may not be subjected to any bodily or moral harm, nor torture or degrading treatment.”[xiii] As a party to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Saudi Arabia is obliged to initiate “a prompt and impartial investigation, wherever there is reasonable ground to believe that an act of torture has been committed.”[xiv] Saudi Arabia has already taken some steps to work with the United Nations to provide more human rights training to detention facilities, and we support increased efforts to continue this training.[xv]
6. Many detainees, including activists and reformers are held incommunicado without access to family members or legal representation.[xvi] Saudi Arabia has made positive steps through the creation of its “nafitha tawasul” meaning window of communication website that allows the public to search for information about those held in detention and for family members to request a visit with their detained relatives. Despite the existence of this website, there are still concerns that authorities do not respond to the requests of this website, and only those in Saudi Arabia are able to access its services, meaning foreign families of detainees continue to be left in the dark.[xvii] We encourage the robust support and continued strengthening of procedures like the nafitha tawasul website that will allow family members and attorneys to easily gain information on and visit detainees.
Climate Change
Contribution to Carbon Emissions
7. Saudi Arabia is responsible for a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions. A study from Marco Grasso and Richard Heede concluded that Saudi Aramco was responsible for more than 4% of total global emissions between 1988 and 2022 and could owe $43 billion annually in reparations related to climate change impacts.[xviii]
8. Saudi Arabia could be held internationally responsible for breaches of international legal obligations related to its use and sale of fossil fuel products. In the Billy decision,[xix] the UN Human Rights Committee concluded that Australia had been and continues to be “among the countries in which large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions have been produced” and also “ranks high on world economic and human development indicators,” meaning that the alleged actions and omissions fell under its jurisdiction and could be examined by the Committee.[xx] While the Committee did not further reach the merits of alleged violations of human rights related to mitigation conduct, the Committee nonetheless appeared to find such conduct attributable to Australia and subject to its review. Similarly, Saudi Arabia’s conduct with respect to its production of greenhouse gas emissions could be attributed to Saudi Arabia and a source of international legal responsibility
9. The use and sale of fossil fuels by Saudi Arabia may amount to a breach of the self-determination of climate-vulnerable peoples. As of this writing, approximate levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are 420 parts per million.[xxi] The continued sale of fossil fuel products which are generating greenhouse gas emissions is now producing territory and resource loss for climate-vulnerable peoples, including indigenous peoples as well as peoples comprising States (such as small-island States). Such partial or even total loss of territory and resources is arguably a breach of the self-determination of such climate-vulnerable peoples by States that heavily use and/or produce fossil fuels. It is possible that Saudi Arabia may have international responsibility for infringements on the self-determination of such climate-vulnerable peoples for such partial or total territorial or resource loss.
10. Average global warming may soon exceed 1.5°C, the level set by the Paris Agreement, resulting in dangerous tipping points that humanity may not be able to control.[xxii] We urge Saudi Arabia to cease its production of fossil fuels and participate in a global Just Transition off of fossil fuels.
Recommendations
11. We encourage Saudi Arabia to continue working to become a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
12. We encourage Saudi Arabia to bring its national legislation in line with international human rights standards to protect freedom of expression and assembly.
13. We encourage Saudi Arabia to endorse the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.
14. We encourage Saudi Arabia to endorse efforts to criminalize ecocide.
15. We encourage Saudi Arabia to support, protect, and promote the self-determination of climate-vulnerable peoples, including indigenous peoples, consistent with those obligations imposed by international law with respect to self-determination under general international law as well as article 1 of the ICCPR and ICESCR.
16. We encourage Saudi Arabia to support and participate in an immediate Just Transition off of fossil fuels.
[i] ALQST for Human Rights, “Prisoners of Conscience,” last accessed on June 16, 2023, https://alqst.org/en/prisonersofconscience.
[ii] Stephanie Kirchgaessner, “Saudi Arabian woman arrested over Twitter and Snapchat posts promoting reform” The Guardian, May 30, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/30/saudi-arabian-woman-detained-over-twitter-and-snapchat-posts-promoting-reform.
[iii]“Human rights defender Ali Ahmed Shaaban arrested,” Gulf Centre for Human Rights, May 18, 2017, https://www.gc4hr.org/human-rights-defender-ali-ahmed-shaaban-arrested/.
[iv] Rayhan Uddin, “Neom: Saudi Arabia jails nearly 50 tribespeople for resisting displacement” Middle East Eye , February 16, 2023, https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-arabia-neom-tribespeople-jailed-resisting-displacement.
[v] Amnesty International, “Saudi Arabia: Muzzling critical voices: politicized trials before Saudi Arabia’s Specialized Criminal Court,” February 6, 2020, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde23/1633/2020/en/.
[vi] Id.
[vii] European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR) and Reprieve, “Bloodshed and Lies: Mohammed bin Salman’s Kingdom of Executions,” 2023, https://reprieve.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/Bloodshed-and-Lies-Mohammed-bin-Salmans-Kingdom-of-Executions.pdf.
[viii] Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, “Opinion No. 30/2022 concerning Abdulrahman Al Sadhan (Saudi Arabia),” September 19, 2022,
[ix]ALQST for Human Rights, “A New Low: Human Rights in Saudi Arabia in 2022,” February 2023, https://alqst.org/uploads/a-new-low-human-rights-in-saudi-arabia-en.pdf
[x] Amnesty International, “Saudi Arabia 2022,” last accessed June 16, 2023, https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/middle-east-and-north-africa/saudi-arabia/report-saudi-arabia/.
[xi] UN News, “Human rights experts alarmed over ‘imminent executions’ in Saudi Arabia,” May 3, 2023, https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/05/1136322.
[xii] Saudi Leaks, “A special security squad is revealed to torture prisoners of conscience in Saudi Arabie” September 19, 2022, https://saudileaks.org/en/a-special-security-squad-is-revealed-to-torture-prisoners-on-conscience-in-saudi-arabia/.
[xiii] Law of Criminal Procedure, Article 2
[xiv] Convention against Torture, Article 12
[xv] United Nations, “Human Rights and Prisons: Training of Trainers Workshop for Prisons’ Staff,” February 23, 2022,
[xvi] United Nation Human Rights Office of the High Commission “Saudi Arabia: All immediate contact with human rights defender held incommunicado, UN expert urges.” https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/11/saudi-arabia-allow-immediate-contact-human-rights-defender-held.
[xvii] ALQST for Human Rights, “Shrouded in Secrecy: Prisons and Detention Centres in Saudi Arabia,” July 2021, https://www.alqst.org/uploads/Shrouded-in-Secrecy-En.pdf.
[xviii] Nina Lakhani, ‘Fossil fuel firms owe climate reparations of $209bn a year, says study’ (The Guardian, 19 May 2023) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/19/fossil-fuel-firms-owe-climate-reparations-of-209bn-a-year-says-study
[xix] HRC (22 Sept. 2022) ‘Views adopted by the Committee under article 5 (4) of the Optional Protocol, concerning communication No. 3624/2019 (Daniel Billy et al v. Australia)’ UN Doc CCPR/C/135/D/3624/2019
[xx] ibid para 7.8.
[xxi] NASA, ‘Vital Signs’ https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/carbon-dioxide/
[xxii] David McKay et al ‘Exceeding 1.5°C global warming could trigger multiple climate change tipping points’ (2022) 377 Science 6611 <https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn7950> accessed 30 April 2023; UN ‘Secretary-General’s remarks to High-Level opening of COP27’ (7 Nov 2022) https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/speeches/2022-11-07/secretary-generals-remarks-high-level-opening-of-cop27 accessed 30 April 2023 (“And our planet is fast approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible. We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator.”).