Release of the Nasheed Singer Rabee’ Hafidh after More Than 6 Years of Arbitrary Detention

The Saudi authorities have released the Nasheed singer Rabee’ Hafidh after he spent nearly seven years in prison. He was arrested as part of the September 2017 campaign without any legal justification.

The Saudi authorities had issued an unjust ruling, sentencing him to three years in prison. However, he ended up spending more than six years in prison, during which he faced numerous violations, including solitary confinement and being placed in a dark room, which caused him severe psychological distress. He was also forced to appear on a television channel to thank his jailers as part of a campaign to improve the image of Saudi prisons.

SANAD Organisation for Human Rights expressed its congratulations to Rabee’ Hafidh on his release and called on the Saudi authorities to release all prisoners of conscience and end the ongoing campaigns of repression and arbitrary arrests.