Dr. Yousef Al-Ahmed Completes Nine Years in Detention Amid Deteriorating Health

Saudi academic Dr. Yousef Al-Ahmed has entered his tenth year behind bars after completing nine years of arbitrary detention since his arrest on 12 September 2017. He continues to suffer human rights violations and deteriorating health due to medical neglect in prison. He is serving a 13-year prison sentence after an earlier four-year sentence was increased.

The persecution of Dr. Al-Ahmed began in 2011, when Saudi authorities arrested him at his father’s home in Dammam over public statements criticizing the detention of women who had participated in a peaceful protest outside the Ministry of Interior, demanding the release of their detained relatives. Although he was later released, authorities rearrested him in September 2017, and he has remained in detention ever since.

During his years in detention, Al-Ahmed has faced serious human rights violations, including prolonged enforced disappearance, denial of contact with his family and access to a lawyer, extended solitary confinement, and physical and psychological torture. He was also subjected to closed-door trials that initially resulted in a four-year prison sentence, later increased to 13 years, followed by a travel ban of equal duration after completing his sentence.

Dr. Al-Ahmed’s suffering extends beyond his detention conditions and judicial proceedings to his deteriorating health. He suffers from a herniated disc and worsening physical pain amid medical neglect in prison, without access to necessary healthcare, raising serious concerns about his health and well-being.

SANAD Human Rights Organization condemns the continued detention of Dr. Yousef Al-Ahmed and renews its call on Saudi authorities to release him immediately and unconditionally, restore all his rights, provide justice and appropriate compensation for the years of arbitrary detention and violations he has endured, and end practices that violate fundamental rights and freedoms.