Release of Activist Fatima Al-Shawarbi After Years of Arbitrary Detention

According to human rights and media sources, Saudi authorities have released activist Fatima Al-Shawarbi, who was arrested in September 2020 over tweets from an anonymous account expressing solidarity with prisoners of conscience. Al-Shawarbi had faced a harsh 30-year prison sentence, along with a 30-year travel ban.

She was detained in the General Investigation Prison in Dammam, where she endured severe rights violations that led to a significant deterioration in her health. In protest of her arbitrary detention, she went on a hunger strike, which she later ended due to her worsening condition. Al-Shawarbi was subjected to a secret trial lacking the minimum standards of legal justice.

In this context, Sanad Human Rights Organization congratulates Fatima Al-Shawarbi and her family on her release, while emphasizing that this does not absolve the Saudi authorities of accountability for the grave violations she endured, nor for the broader policy of repression affecting thousands of others detained for peacefully expressing their opinions.