Waleed Abu al-Khair
21 June 2019
Waleed Abu al-Khair will be the recipient of the 2019 American Bar Association International Human Rights Award. The award honours his extraordinary work as a lawyer to advocate for human rights, democracy and justice for all in Saudi Arabia and to represent victims of human rights abuses. Abu al Khair has been arbitrarily imprisoned for his advocacy since April 2014 under unremittingly severe conditions. He has refused Saudi offers to release him in return for an apology and silence, courageously opting to remain, at cost of his own liberty, an advocate for rights and victims of abuse. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has ruled, in response by a complaint by LRWC and others, that his conviction and detention lacked any legal basis and has twice recommended immediate release. The nomination of Waleed was submitted by LRWC, Lawyers for Lawyers, Union Internationale des Avocats and the Law Society of England and Wales.
