Abdulrahman Al-Hawali has been continuously detained since July 2018

The Saudi authorities have continued the detention of Abdulrahman Al-Hawali since July 2018 without any legal reasons. His arrest was due to him being the son of Dr. Safar Al-Hawali, who is also detained for a draft of a book criticizing the situation in Saudi Arabia.

In prison, Abdulrahman was subjected to several violations including enforced disappearance, physical torture to pressure his father, deprivation of sleep in the initial months, and being denied visits from his children, in addition to facing an unfair trial where he was initially sentenced to 7 years in prison without any justifiable reasons. Upon appeal, this was increased to 17 years, in a clear and blatant violation of the most basic standards of legal justice.

SANAD Organisation for Human Rights expresses deep concern over the continued detention of Abdulrahman Al-Hawali since July 2018, without any legal justifications or convincing judicial grounds, and emphasizes that the serious violations Abdulrahman has been subjected to during his detention, including enforced disappearance, physical torture, sleep deprivation, and visitation denial, represent a violation of basic human rights and is a crime that cannot be ignored.