U.S. State Department: No Change in Saudi Human Rights Record… Systematic Violations and Impunity
U.S. State Department Issues Its 2024 Annual Human Rights Report
On August 12, 2025, the U.S. Department of State released its 2024 annual Human Rights Report, confirming the continued deterioration of human rights conditions in Saudi Arabia with no notable improvements over the past year. The report highlights ongoing, grave, and systematic violations against citizens and residents, coupled with a clear policy of impunity and a lack of political will to address abuses or hold perpetrators accountable.
The report documented a wide range of abuses, including arbitrary or extrajudicial killings by security forces or their agents, enforced disappearances of dissidents and activists, torture, and mistreatment in detention such as prolonged solitary confinement, denial of medical care, and physical and psychological abuse. It also noted executions for non-violent offenses, including cases involving individuals who were minors at the time of the alleged crime.
It further stated that Saudi authorities impose severe restrictions on freedom of expression and the press, using vague laws such as the Counterterrorism Law and the Cybercrime Law to punish dissidents, social media users, and journalists. Violations included prosecuting and imprisoning reporters, blocking hundreds of websites, monitoring social media activity, and extensive censorship of both domestic and foreign media.
Citing information from SANAD Human Rights Organization, the report highlighted the case of cartoonist Mohammed Al-Hazzaa, who was sentenced to 23 years in prison without the right to appeal for his peaceful online activism.
The report also confirmed the government’s involvement in “transnational repression,” targeting dissidents abroad through surveillance, threats, assaults, and even enforced abductions along with pressuring their families inside the Kingdom to force silence or compel their return.
It also reported ongoing restrictions on religious freedom, continued discriminatory policies, a ban on independent labor unions, and systematic limits on the freedom of association. Widespread labor rights abuses were also recorded, especially against migrant workers, including passport confiscation, wage theft, forced labor, and mistreatment.
The State Department stressed that the Saudi government has taken no credible steps to investigate violations or hold perpetrators accountable perpetuating a culture of impunity and enabling continued abuses without deterrence.
