GENERAL UPDATE
On 18th June 2026, the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) published a report documenting how transnational repression linked to States in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) restricts and endangers the work of human rights defenders (HRDs), journalists, writers, academics, trade unionists, bloggers and other peaceful civic or political actors abroad, including through pressure on their relatives and associates. Drawing on more than twenty documented or credibly alleged cases connected to seven States in the region, including Saudi Arabia, over the period 2022 to 2026, together with earlier cases that saw significant developments during that period, it relies on GCHR documentation, reports by other human rights and press-freedom organisations, United Nations communications and opinions, national court records and independent technical and forensic investigations. The report focuses on four recurring patterns: removal, transfer and risk of refoulement; direct and indirect transnational intimidation and reprisals; misuse of legal, administrative and security measures; and transnational digital surveillance. Although the methods differ, they converge on a common aim: to silence, punish or deter peaceful activity carried out from abroad. The report sets out the safeguards required to protect those targeted, prevent refoulement and reprisals, curb abusive legal and security cooperation, ensure accountability and effective remedies, and prevent unlawful or arbitrary cross-border surveillance.
Association
On 24th March 2026, six human rights organisations stated that the International Labour Organisation (ILO) governing body should reject Saudi Arabia’s request to prematurely close the Article 26 Complaint brought by African trade union groups against the Gulf state.
The groups warned that closing the case at the upcoming 356th Session, which began on 23rd March 2026, would disregard substantial evidence of ongoing harm, leaving millions of migrant workers at risk of ongoing abuses. The complaint, declared receivable at the previous Governing Body session, raises urgent concerns about Saudi Arabia’s persistent failure to effectively implement its obligations to protect migrant workers from forced labour, non-payment of wages, dangerous working conditions and discrimination, in accordance with key ILO Conventions it has ratified.
Expression
In May 2026, Saudi authorities referred several Saudi citizens to investigations for posting online their criticism of unfair selection of foreigners over Saudi citizens for senior positions in a state-owned company. The general Authority of the Media Regulation stated that it questioned 49 Saudi citizens for allegedly committing 68 violations on social media. They didn’t specify how the posting is related to violations and only referred to charges such as “disrupting public order, national security, and the requirements to maintain the public interest.” Posts started to appear when a group of Saudis started looking up the resumés of several foreigners hired at state-owned companies on the LinkedIn website. The Saudis found that the credentials of some of them didn’t match the positions they were hired for. Saudis started reposting under a years’ old hashtag #Unemployment_among_Saudis, about their grievances regarding unemployment and the unfairness of recruiting underqualified foreigners. Soon, a wave of posts by other Saudis started to flood the hashtag with similar unfair experiences in jobs or job applications. This trend usually appears every year in Saudi Arabia, and many people were targeted by the authorities for posting their grievances online.
Human rights groups, researchers, and activists have had their Facebook and Instagram accounts geo-blocked following reported gov’t requests from Saudi Arabia and the UAE.@Meta must uphold human rights, not enable digital repression. Learn more 🔽https://t.co/ZeqYjdDBk5
— Access Now (@accessnow) May 20, 2026
On 20th May 2026, 12 human rights organisation signed a joint letter condemning Meta’s recent decision to restrict the Facebook and Instagram accounts of independent NGOs, researchers, and civil society figures from reaching audiences in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). According to the human rights organisations, this is the latest in a pattern of major technology companies, including Meta, acting as enforcement arms for repressive governments in the Gulf.
The letter notes that since 30th April 2026, Gulf-focused NGOs ALQST for Human Rights and Democratic Diwan, as well as Saudi researcher Abdullah Alaoudh and human rights defender Yahya Assiri, have had their Facebook accounts rendered “unavailable” in Saudi Arabia at the request of the Saudi government, in a form of “geo-blocking”. Similar restrictions have been imposed in the UAE, including against an academic. According to Meta’s publicly available content restriction reports, over 100 Facebook pages and Instagram accounts have been restricted since March 2026. This follows a similar pattern on X (formerly Twitter). Most recently, the Saudi government requested that a number of X accounts belonging to prominent Saudi activists be geo-blocked. As of the publication date (20 May 2025), X had not complied.
The report further records that authorities in both countries exert near total control over online information, and routinely block websites and internet accounts that might be of public interest, such as the websites of ALQST (blocked in Saudi Arabia since 2015), the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (blocked in Saudi Arabia and the UAE since 2015) and others that might contain content critical of the government or that advocate for human rights and democracy in the country.
On 30th April 2026, Amnesty International reported that Ahmed al-Doush’s mental well-being has deteriorated significantly in prison in Saudi Arabia, where he is arbitrarily detained and serving five years in prison after an unfair trial for charges based on social media use, which violate his right to free expression. Saudi authorities arrested British national Ahmed al-Doush, a senior business analyst with Bank of America, on 31st August 2024 at the airport in Riyadh as he was returning to the UK after visiting Saudi Arabia with his wife and children. The Specialised Criminal Court (SCC), sentenced him to 10 years in prison on 12th May 2025, shortened to eight years on appeal in June 2025, and then to five years in April 2026. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) recently concluded that his detention is arbitrary under international law and that he should be immediately released.
On 6th September 2025, during a surprise trial hearing, the Specialised Criminal Court (SCC) reduced the prison sentences of 8 of the 10 Egyptian Nubian men arbitrarily detained in Saudi Arabia. As previously documented, the group was charged and prosecuted for organising a peaceful remembrance event and ultimately sentenced on 10th October 2022 to prison terms ranging between 10 to 18 years following a grossly unfair trial. They were charged with establishing an association without a licence, showing solidarity with the Muslim Brotherhood and posting on social media. Some of the men are elderly and suffer from health conditions, such as diabetes and cardiovascular issues.