Abdullah Al Hamid

Cases
Location of case in SG report
2013-032-001
Relevant SG report
Year of the report
2013
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
27 March 2013
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

co-founder of the Saudi Association for Civil and Political Rights which campaigns against arbitrary detention

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

having provided false information to external sources, including human rights mechanisms of the United Nations

Engagement with UN body
  • Unclear
Dates of engagement
Unclear
Type of attempted engagement
  • Submission of information to UN
Dates of mentioned reprisals
9 March 2013
Location of mentioned reprisals
Riyadh
Reprisal information

According to information received, on 9 March 2013, the Riyadh Specialized Criminal Court sentenced Abdullah Al Hamid, co-founder of the Saudi Association for Civil and Political Rights, which campaigns against arbitrary detention, to six years of imprisonment for, inter alia, having provided false information to external sources, including human rights mechanisms of the United Nations. Mr. Al Hamid is now serving a term of 11 years in prison, following the partial reinstatement by the court of a seven-year sentence handed down in 2005 for an offence for which Mr Al Hamid had later been pardoned by the King, with a subsequent travel ban. At the same time, the court ordered the dissolution of the Association, the confiscation of its property and the closure of its social media accounts on the grounds that it had failed to obtain an official licence to operate.

Types of reprisals suffered
  • Administrative reprisal
  • Charge/Investigation/Prosecution: Conviction
  • Property damage/raid/search/confiscation
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
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?
2
In which SG report was this case followed up on? 0
2020
Follow up information provided in SG report 0
  1. The case of Mr. Abdullah Al Hamid, 68 of the Saudi Association for Civil and Political Rights (ACPRA), which filed local lawsuits against the Ministry of Interior and reported human rights violations to the Human Rights Council and to special procedures (SAU 5/2013), was included in the 2013 report of the Secretary-General (A/HRC/24/29, para. 32). Mr. Al Hamid died in custody on 24 April 2020, while serving a six-year sentence of imprisonment for, inter-alia, “disseminating false information to foreign groups” (A/HRC/WGAD/2015/38, para. 75). The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had found his detention arbitrary 69 and urged his release. 70
  2. According to information reported to OHCHR, on 9 April 2020, Mr. Al Hamid suffered a stroke in Al Ha’ir prison, entered a coma, and was moved to King Saud Medical City, where he remained in critical condition. The stroke reportedly resulted from poor detention conditions and the systematic denial of adequate medical care by the prison authorities. Mr. Al Hamid was reportedly denied phone calls and visits on several occasions, and the prison authorities refused to let him inform anyone outside the prison about his declining health. In January 2020, a doctor advised Mr. Al Hamid that he urgently needed a heart catheterization operation, but the prison administration delayed the operation by several months, and he was not allowed to remain in hospital while awaiting the operation that had been projected for mid-2020.
Followup Trends 0
Deterioration/further reprisals
Did the government respond? 0
No
Was this case followed up by a UN body? 0
  • UN Special Procedures: Thematic
In which SG report was this case followed up on? 1
2021
Follow up information provided in SG report 1
  1. The case of Mr. Abdullah Al Hamid, of the Saudi Association for Civil and Political Rights (ACPRA), which filed local lawsuits against the Ministry of Interior and reported human rights violations to the Human Rights Council and to special procedures (SAU 5/2013), was included in the 2020 and 2013 reports of the Secretary-General.239 Mr. Al Hamid died in custody on 24 April 2020, while serving a six-year sentence of imprisonment for, inter-alia, “disseminating false information to foreign groups” (A/HRC/WGAD/2015/38, para. 76). In 2015, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had found his detention arbitrary240 and urged his release.241
  2. On 2 June 2020, special procedures mandate holders addressed the conditions under which Mr. Al Hamid died in custody, expressing concern that the delay to Mr. Al-Hamid’s treatment may have arbitrarily deprived him of his right to life. They noted that he was not considered for early release in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and telephone calls to his family were heavily restricted since the spread of the virus (SAU 8/2020). They expressed their deep concern at the lack of medical care from prison authorities and the allegations that, instead of allowing Mr. Al-Hamid to stay in hospital to, inter alia, undergo the urgent surgery ordered by the doctor, his operation had been delayed and he was forced to remain in prison without access to appropriate medical treatment and care (SAU 8/2020).
Followup Trends 1
Deterioration/further reprisals
Date of follow up 1
2 June 2020
Did the government respond? 1
Yes
Was this case followed up by a UN body? 1
  • UN Special Procedures: Thematic