The following is based on a communication sent by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other UN experts to the Government of Saudi Arabia on 28 November 2024. The communication remained confidential for 60 days before being made public, giving the Government time to reply. The Government replied on 20 January 2025, which was recently translated and made available.
This is a shorter version of the original communication.
BACKGROUND
Topic: the continued ill-treatment, and intimidation of detained human rights defender, Ms. Manahel al-Otaibi, as well as her conviction under the Law on Combatting Crimes of Terrorism and its Financing.
Ms. Manahel al-Otaibi is a woman human rights defender, certified fitness instructor and artist from Saudi Arabia. She is a social media activist, and has frequently promoted content relating to women’s empowerment, as well as her other interests including travel and yoga. Her posts have included advocacy for liberal dress codes for women, LGBTI rights and the abolition of Saudi Arabia’s male guardianship laws. She has also called on the Government to shut down State-run shelters where women and girls had reportedly suffered abuse.
Ms. al-Otaibi was arrested on 16 November 2022, in relation to her social media posts expressing criticism of the male guardianship laws in Saudi Arabia, in particular the Personal Status Law which in March 2022 codified informal rules under Sharia law into Saudi Arabian legislation. Her posts also included criticism of the requirements for women to wear the body-shrouding abaya. Although the Saudi authorities announced a relaxation of the dress code, Saudi women still face legal uncertainty and poorly defined accusations of wearing “indecent” clothing. In January 2023, her case was referred to the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC), to be tried on charges related to the Anti-Cybercrime Law of 2007, in relation to her social media posts. She was accused under Saudi customs and traditions, not under a specific law, of “defaming the Kingdom at home and abroad and calling for rebellion against public order and society’s traditions and customs.” Ms. al-Otaibi was detained while awaiting trial and was reportedly subjected to physical and psychological abuse by another inmate.
ALLEGATIONS
On 9 January 2024, the SCC convicted Ms. al-Otaibi of having committed “terrorist offences,” under articles 43 and 44 of the Law on Combatting Crimes of Terrorism and its Financing (the Law), and sentenced her to 11 years in prison, in a preliminary ruling, which she subsequently appealed. The Court of Appeal upheld the sentence, and her case is currently in front of the Supreme Court. The court documents were not made available to Ms. al-Otaibi’s family.
Article 43 of the Law imposes a maximum sentence of 20 years to “whoever establishes a website” with the intent of committing a crime, or to “facilitate communication with a leader or members of a terrorist entity.” Under article 44 of the Law, the crime of broadcasting a “statement, false or malicious rumour for implementing a terrorist crime,” is punishable by up to of five years in prison.
Ms. al-Otaibi’s family first learned of her conviction and sentencing through the response of the Government of Saudi Arabia, made public on 25 January 2024, in response to the communication AL SAU 10/2023 sent by Special Procedures mandate holders, as cited above. The letter did not provide any further details: it did not identify the “leader or members of a terrorist entity” she had allegedly communicated with, nor which “terrorist crime” she had broadcast statements about. There was no mention in the letter of the charges related to the Anti-Cybercrime Law.
According to the Government’s reply, Ms. al-Otaibi “is regularly able to exercise her right to receive visits and make calls with her family members and her lawyer, like any other prisoner or detainee.” However, according to other information received, Ms. al-Otaibi has not been allowed any family visits since her imprisonment though she is allowed to make phone calls to them. Her court-appointed lawyer has not had regular contact with her family, has not provided them with documents or information about any procedures or court hearings. The extent of Ms. al-Otaibi’s contact with her lawyer is also not clear to her family.
Ms. al-Otaibi has been serving her sentence in al-Malaz prison, in a cell on her own. She is permitted to leave her cell but has reportedly been the victim of a number of attacks by other female inmates. When she complained several times to prison authorities about the attacks, she was placed in isolation, in one instance for up to five months, with no proper bedding, and no access to her family or to books or money sent by them.
On 22 April 2024, she spoke to her family for the first time in five months. It is reported that Ms. al-Otaibi had been placed in isolation following an incident in which she was beaten by other female inmates. She was not able to speak about all the violations against her for fear that the prison authorities would cut off her call.
It is reported that in early July 2024, three female inmates harassed her sexually while she was on her way to the bathroom, and had entered her cell, touching her while she was asleep. She complained to the prison authorities, but no action was taken.
It is further reported that in mid-September 2024, Ms. al-Otaibi was stabbed in the face by a female prisoner with a sharpened pencil and beaten. It is reported that prison guards gave the pencil to the inmate and allowed the attack to take place. She was taken to the hospital where she received stitches on her face and was placed in isolation in prison for two weeks, after which she was able to call her family.
It is also reported that the prison authorities added a new allegation to her case, claiming that she was in a sexual relationship with a fellow inmate. They were referring to the fact that the inmate in question had assisted Ms. al-Otaibi when she was in a poor physical or psychological state. The new allegation could reportedly be used as a judicial charge leading to an additional sanction at the judge’s discretion.
CONCERNS
In the communication, we express serious concern at the allegations of intimidation and ill-treatment in prison of human rights defender Ms. al-Otaibi, the lack of proper attention to her complaints and the lack of family visits.
We also wish to reiterate our concern regarding the trial of Ms. al-Otaibi before the Specialized Criminal Court, established in 2008 to try individuals accused of terror-related crimes. This court, in tandem with the vague definition of terrorism and terrorist offences, including speech-related offences, in the Law on Combatting Crimes of Terrorism and its Financing has been systematically used to quash criticism, dissent and opposition to the Government and royal family. The vague and overbroad nature of the counter-terrorism law is notably concerning as it allows to curtail and punish the exercise of freedom of opinion and expression and does not provide sufficient safeguards regarding compliance with the prohibition of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances, and the right to a fair trial and due process guarantees. This matter has been previously brought to the attention of the Government of Saudi Arabia by sharing our observations on the law in communications OL SAU 12/2020 and AL SAU 5/2022, sent on 17 December 2020 and 28 March 2022 respectively. We thank the Government for its reply to the latter communication on 25 May 2022, and we regret that no reply has been received to the former communication. The SCC and the Law were also criticised by the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism during his 2017 visit to Saudi Arabia for their harmful impact to civil society and human rights defenders (A/HRC/40/52/Add.2). We are concerned that despite having already brought such concerns to the attention of the Saudi Government, it appears that specialized courts and anti-terrorism legislation continue to be used to restrain and punish the legitimate exercise of rights protected under international human rights law.
