Alkarama has learned that the Yemeni pilgrim, Abdulrab Mansoor Moqbel Ahmed GEHAM, who forcibly disappeared in Saudi Arabia recently reappeared in Abha prison in southwestern Saudi Arabia. It is only recently that he was allowed to contact his family for the first time since his arrest by Saudi security forces at the Al-Wadia border crossing last April.
Several United Nations (UN) human rights experts have urged Saudi Arabia to immediately revoke the death penalty handed down to Mohammed Al Ghamdi, a retired teacher, for his tweets and activism on YouTube. This was expressed in a statement issued by the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
On 12 September 2023, Alkarama urgently submitted the case of Yemeni citizen Abdulrab Mansoor Moqbel Ahmed GEHAM, who was arrested on 12 April 2023 by Saudi security forces at the Al Wadea border crossing, to the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearance.
On August 7, 2023, Alkarama addressed the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) regarding the case of Mr. Mohsen Saleh Nasser AL AWLAKI, a Yemeni national, arrested in Saudi Arabia on May 26, 2021 by the police under the pretext of being a disciple of Nasser Muhammad Al-Yamani, the latter claiming to be the "Mahdi" – an eschatological figure who will come at the end of time to restore religion and justice.
At its last session, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) examined the case of Saudi religious figure Safar Al Hawali, who has been arbitrarily detained since his arrest by state security agents in July 2018.
On 23 May 2023, Alkarama referred to the United Nations Special Procedures, including the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), the case of four Yemeni nationals arrested by the police on 23 April 2022 in the Taif region of southern Saudi Arabia under the pretext of being affiliated with the Houthi group in Yemen while on their way to "Umrah", (religious pilgrimage) to Mecca.
On 8 May 2023, a Saudi court decided to postpone the session of the academic and prominent lawyer, Mohammed bin Fahd Al Qahtani’s trial whose news was cut off before the end of his unfair sentence in November 2022.
The wife of the Saudi activist noted on Twitter that the Specialized Criminal Court postponed the trial session, the charges against him and the reasons for not bringing him to court remaining unknown. She added that he is maintained in detention and prevented to communicate with his family or lawyer.
On 10 May 2023, Alkarama submitted an urgent appeal to the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances to shed light on the fate of Aimidoula WAILI and Nuermaimaiti RUZE, Chinese citizens of Uyghurs origin, who have been missing since their transfer to the capital Riyadh in March 2023.
