Four Years of Detention: Najwa Al-Humaid, a Living Witness to the Repression of Women in Saudi Arabia

Today, May 16, 2025, marks the fourth anniversary of the arrest of Saudi activist Najwa Al-Humaid, who was detained by Saudi authorities in 2021 as part of a campaign targeting young activists. Her arrest was linked to her engagement with hashtags concerning #Unemployed individuals and #Prisoners_of_Conscience, as well as tweets calling for reform and respect for human rights in Saudi Arabia.

The Public Prosecution charged Al-Humaid with a series of recycled accusations frequently used against dissidents, including “communicating with suspicious entities” and “following opposition accounts on Twitter.” The violations did not end there: in October 2022, Najwa was forced to appear in a televised interview on the state-run Al-Ikhbariya channel—an attempt to whitewash the image of Saudi prisons and conceal the ongoing abuses faced by political detainees.

Sanad Human Rights Organization condemns the continued detention of activist Najwa Al-Humaid and calls for her immediate and unconditional release, along with fair compensation for the harm she has suffered as a result of her arbitrary detention.