Fadhel Al Manasif
Cases- Location of case in SG report
- 2011-062-001
- Relevant SG report
- Year of the report
- 2011
- 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
- 12 May 2011
- Type of record
- Named individual
- Gender
- Male
- Was the victim a foreign national?
- No
- Was the victim a minor?
- No
- Individual's/organization's activity
A well-known human rights defender
- Type of rights defended
- Civil/political rights
- Was the victim a civil servant or member of the security forces or of the judiciary?
- No
- Reported trigger of reprisal
Concern has been expressed that the situation of Mr. Al Manasif may be related to his work in the defence of human rights, in particular, his involvement in the documentation and dissemination of information on human rights violations, as well as his engagement with United Nations mechanisms and other international human rights organizations.
- Engagement with UN body
- Unclear
- Dates of engagement
- 29 April 2011
- Type of attempted engagement
- Submission of information to UN
- Dates of mentioned reprisals
- 01 May 2011; 02 May 2011
- Location of mentioned reprisals
- Al Thakbah police station
- Reprisal information
Two days after he was actively involved in disseminating increased restrictions being placed on the right to freedom of expression following amendments to the Press and Publications Law, he was arrested, detained and held incommunicado.
- Types of reprisals suffered
- Detention/Imprisonment: Detention/Imprisonment - General
- Alleged/likely perpetrators
- State actors
- Was the reprisal based on new legislation?
- Yes
- Does the report make general comment about country’s environment for engagement with UN?
- No
- Further case development
At the time of completion of the present report, the Government of Saudi Arabia had not replied to this communication.
- 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
- 2012
- Follow up information provided in SG report 0
- Regarding the case of Fadhel Al-Manasif, whose case was mentioned in my previous report (A/HRC/18/19, paras. 62-68), information was received indicating his release on 11 August 2011, after three months of arbitrary detention in solitary confinement and no family visits. He was allegedly re-arrested during the afternoon of Sunday, 2 October 2011 at a checkpoint between Al-Awamiyah and Safavi in eastern Saudi Arabia. Mr. Al-Manasif is reportedly currently held in the General Investigations Prisonin the city of Dammam, in the Eastern Province in Saudi Arabia.According to information received, he is on trial in Riyadh before the Special Criminal Court, established to address security offences, and is accused of sedition for participating inprotests. Allegedly, he is facingcharges relating to his arrests of April 2009and May 2011.A second and third hearing in the case took place at the Special Criminal Court on 28 February 2012 and9 April 2012, respectively. He denies the accusations against him. Following the fourth hearing,which was heldon 9 May 2012, subsequenthearings were postponed.
- As in the case of Mr. Al-Manasif‟s detention from May to August 2011, he isreportedly being held in solitary confinement and has not been allowed family visits. Concerns have been expressed that he may have been subjected to torture and that he is being prosecuted on grounds relating to his engagement with international human rights mechanisms. At the time of the completion of the present report, the Government had not responded to the communication sent by several special procedures on 12 May 2011(A/HRC/18/51, p. 110)
- Followup Trends 0
- Deterioration/further reprisals
- Did the government respond? 0
- No