Mohammad al–Qahtani (left), Waleed Abu al-Khair, and Abdullah al-Hamid (right)
September 2018
On September 24 2018 Waleed Abu al-Khair, Mohammad al–Qahtani, and Abdullah al-Hamid, three internationally respected human rights advocates arbitrarily imprisoned in Saudi Arabia, were awarded the 2018 Right Livelihood Award, known as the Alternative Nobel. The award was given in recognition “for their visionary and courageous efforts, guided by universal human rights principles, to reform the totalitarian political system in Saudi Arabia.”
On 26 October 2015 the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled (A/HRC/WGAD/2015) that the detention of each of the men was arbitrary and recommended immediate release and reparation. Saudi Arabia has refused to comply with these recommendations.
Waleed Abu al-Khair, human rights lawyer and founder of the Monitor for Human Rights in Saudi Arabia (MHRSA), was jailed 14 April 2014 and sentenced 14 July 2014 to 15 years in prison, a 15 year travel ban and a 200,000 SAR fine. Mohammad al–Qahtani, economics professor and co-founder of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) was sentenced on 9 March 2013 to 10 years imprisonment and a 10-year travel ban. Abdullah al-Hamid, professor, writer and co-founder of ACPRSA was sentenced on 9 March 2013 to 5 years imprisonment plus 6 years of a sentence previously pardoned. Saudi authorities banned ACPRA and MHRSA, from further operation.
