Olaya Saadi
Cases- Location of case in SG report
- 2020-001-001
- Relevant SG report
- Year of the report
- 2020
- From Country
- Country Geolocation
Latitude: 28.033886
Longitude: 1.659626
- Country Geolocation (linked Cases)
- Algeria
- From Region
- UN body that raised the case prior to the SG report
- UN Special Procedures: UN Special Procedures - General
- Dates of prior UN action
- 16 April 2020
- 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
of Sahrawi origin, is the wife of Mr. Fadel Breika 1 , of the El Khalil Ahmed Braih Coordination for the Defense of Human Rights in Western Sahara, whose detention and interrogation was addressed by special procedures (DZA 2/2019).
- Type of rights defended
- Civil/political rights
- Was the victim a civil servant, member of the security forces or of the judiciary?
- No
- Reported trigger of reprisal
speaking at the Human Rights Council in September 2019
- Engagement with UN body
- UN Human Rights Council: UN Human Rights Council - General
- Dates of engagement
- September 2019
- Type of attempted engagement
- Participation in meeting on UN premises
- Dates of mentioned reprisals
- 1 November 2019
- Reprisal information
On 1 November 2019, intimate photos of Ms. Saadi were posted on the “Sawt al Watan” website, which were allegedly obtained, without consent, from the confiscated phone of her husband while he was in detention. An article on this site referred to Ms. Saadi’s trip to Geneva, including a photo of her speaking at the Human Rights Council in September 2019. Mandate holders expressed concern that the publication of these photos appear to have aimed at tarnishing Ms. Saadi’s reputation and her efforts to advocate for the release of her husband with the UN (DZA 2/2020).
- Types of reprisals suffered
- Defamation / Defamation campaign
- Online harassment
- 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
- 06 July 2020
- Government response content
indicating that it cannot verify allegations pertaining to a citizen of another State, and invited OHCHR to address the allegations to the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic or to the Polisario Front by virtue of General Assembly resolutions 37/34 (21 November 1979), and resolution 19/35 (11 November 1980)
- 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?
- 0