Samar Badawi (2015)
Cases- Location of case in SG report
- 2015-036-001
- Relevant SG report
- Year of the report
- 2015
- From Country
- Country Geolocation
Latitude: 23.885942
Longitude: 45.079162
- Country Geolocation (linked Cases)
- Saudi Arabia
- From Region
- UN body that raised the case prior to the SG report
- UN Special Procedures: Thematic
- Dates of prior UN action
- 6 January 2015
- Type of record
- Named individual
- Gender
- Female
- Was the victim a foreign national?
- No
- Was the victim a minor?
- No
- Individual's/organization's activity
a human rights defender advocating for women’s rights and the release of her husband, Waleed Abu al-Khair, from prison,
- Type of rights defended
- Civil/political rights
- Women’s rights
- Was the victim a civil servant or member of the security forces or of the judiciary?
- No
- Reported trigger of reprisal
delivering her statement to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-seventh session
- Engagement with UN body
- UN Human Rights Council: UN Human Rights Council - General
- Dates of engagement
- 16 September 2014
- Type of attempted engagement
- Participation in meeting on UN premises
- Dates of mentioned reprisals
- 16 September 2014; 3 December 2014
- Location of mentioned reprisals
- Geneva; Jeddah
- Reprisal information
On 16 September 2014, while Ms. Badawi was delivering her statement to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-seventh session, the delegation of Saudi Arabia made two points of order. Following her statement, Ms. Badawi reportedly received threats for having publicly raised the case of her husband before the Council. On 3 December, Ms. Badawi was reportedly prevented by security officials at King Abdulaziz International Airport from boarding a flight to Belgium to participate in a human rights forum, and was informed that a travel ban had been issued against her for an indefinite period (ibid.).
- Types of reprisals suffered
- Threats/Intimidations (incl. "fear of reprisal")
- Travel restriction
- Alleged/likely perpetrators
- State actors
- Was the reprisal based on new legislation?
- No
- Does the report make general comment about country’s environment for engagement with UN?
- No
- Government response dates
- 13 May 2015
- Government response content
In its reply of 13 May 2015, the Government stated that the allegations of reprisals were incorrect, that Ms. Badawi had been accused of having committed a number of criminal offences punishable by law and that the travel ban placed on her related to those charges (see A/HRC/30/27, case SAU 16/2014).
- Is the country cited for a "pattern of reprisal" in the context of this case?
- No
- Is a pattern of reprisals mentioned otherwise in the context of this case?
- No
- Does the report cite "self-censorship" as an issue in the context of this case?
- No
- How many times has the case been followed up in subsequent SG reports?
- 1
- In which SG report was this case followed up on? 0
- 2019
- Follow up information provided in SG report 0
The case of Ms. Samar Badawi was included in the 2015 annual report of the Secretary-General (A/HRC/30/29, para. 36) concerning threats and subsequent interrogation for a statement she made at the Human Rights Council in September 2014. On 30 July 2018, it was reported that Ms. Badawi was arrested without a warrant in Jeddah and transferred to an unknown location where she was detained incommunicado for a month before being allowed contact with her family. In early 2019, it was alleged that Ms. Badawi was among other women reported in the media who faced sexual harassment, torture and other forms of physical and psychological ill-treatment during interrogation. Ms. Badawi has been the subject of several special procedures communications (SAU 16/2014), (SAU 1/2016), (SAU 11/2018), and (SAU 1/2019) and a public statement. 154 The Government responded, 155 indicating that the facts pertaining to the allegations of reprisals were inaccurate and that Ms. Badawi was subject to criminal charges. On 5 April 2019, the Government provided information that Ms. Badawi is detained at a prison in Jeddah Governorate Makkah Province. According to information received, she is allowed regular contact with her family at Dhahban Prison but has been denied her right to legal counsel and has not been informed of the charges against her.
- Followup Trends 0
- Deterioration/further reprisals
- Did the government respond? 0
- Yes
- Was this case followed up by a UN body? 0
- UN Special Procedures: Thematic