Expression
On 18th February 2025, the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) reported that Salma Al-Shehab has been released after four years in prison, alongside hundreds of others, including prominent prisoners of conscience. Al-Shehab was imprisoned for posts on X where she showed solidarity and support for women’s rights and for women who were imprisoned for demanding more rights. On 25th September 2024, her sentence was reportedly reduced on appeal from 27 years to four years in prison prior to her release.
In addition, several notable individuals were released. Abdulaziz Al-Oudah, a social media influencer, was released after spending several years in prison since September 2019. His original sentence was for five years, but he was kept in prison after that without charge until his recent release.
Likewise, Mansour Al-Ruqaiba, another popular social media influencer, was released after serving two years of his 18-year sentence. Al-Ruqaiba talked about his ordeal and how he was punished for privately expressing his opinions and blackmailed by one of his guests.
Asaad Nasser Al-Ghamdi, one of the two brothers of the prominent political opponent Dr. Saeed Nasser Al-Ghamdi, has also been released after serving part of his 15-year prison sentence handed down in May 2024. He was charged based on posts on X in which he expressed his condolences on the death of the prominent human rights defender, Dr. Abdullah Al-Hamed, in prison, among other posts.
Another woman human rights defender, Sakeena Al-Othman, was released two years after her arrest and after being sentenced to 40 years for posts in support of women’s rights.
Some other writers were also released, including Abdullah Al-Dawood and Thaker Al-Hubail.
ALQST further reported the release of Ziad al-Sufiani, a Saudi podiatrist, who was active in different social and intellectual projects in March 2025. He founded the reading club of Taif University in 2012, and was an Arabic administrator at Wikipedia before his arrest. He contributed to the creation and editing of various pages, including the one of Saudi women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul.
On 8th January 2025, GCHR also reported the release of several human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia after lengthy imprisonment. Among those who were recently released are Dr. Mohammed Fahad Al-Qahtani, Issa Al-Nukhaifi, Dr. Malik Al-Ahmad, Mohammed Al-Khudairi and Mohammed Al-Habdan. Most were imprisoned based on their human rights activism, according to articles of the Cybercrimes Law and the Counterterrorism Law.
On 10th March 2025, 20 human rights organisations raised grave concerns about the Saudi human rights defender, Abdulrahman Al-Khalidi, who is at risk of deportation from Bulgaria to Saudi Arabia. As previously documented on the Monitor, Bulgaria’s National Security Agency issued an expulsion order against Al-Khalidi in February 2024, which was confirmed by the Sofia Administrative Court on 21st October 2024, thereby imposing compulsory expulsion to Saudi Arabia.
Bulgarian authorities would violate the Bulgarian, European and international law obligation of non-refoulement, which bars returning someone to a country where they would risk facing torture or ill-treatment, if they deport this highly visible critic of the Saudi government.