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Living Archive
Defenders.
An open record of human rights defenders across the Middle East and North Africa. Every entry is a case file — dated, sourced, and kept current.
173
Records on
the open archive
87
Currently held
detained · sentenced · on trial
57
In exile or under
transnational repression
11
In memoriam
killed for their work
The Record
Filtered cases
HM-XX-2026-047
Released
Loujain al-Hathloul
Saudi women's rights defender held in detention from May 2018 to February 2021 and now under an indefinite travel ban.
Arrested 2018
HM-XX-2026-038
Killed
Saud al-Faraj
Saud al-Faraj was executed in April 2026 after a trial at Saudi Arabia's Specialised Criminal Court that followed nearly two years of…
Open case file
HM-SA-2026-005
Under TNR
Ghanem Al-Masarir
Ghanem Al-Masarir, a Saudi dissident YouTuber living in London, was targeted with Pegasus spyware and physically assaulted by Saudi agents. In 2026…
Open case file
HM-SA-2026-003
Released
Samar Badawi
Samar Badawi challenged Saudi Arabia's male guardianship laws and led campaigns for women's right to drive. Arrested in July 2018, she was…
Open case file
HM-SA-2026-004
Sentenced
Ahmed al-Doush
Ahmed al-Doush, a British-Saudi business analyst, was arrested at Riyadh airport in 2024 while returning home with his family. He is serving…
Open case file
HM-SA-2026-002
Released
Raif Badawi
Raif Badawi, a Saudi blogger and co-founder of Free Saudi Liberals, served ten years in prison for posts about free speech and…
Hunger strike
Open case file
HM-SA-2026-001
Released
Mohammed Fahd Al-Qahtani
Saudi economist and co-founder of ACPRA, jailed in 2013 on a 10-year sentence. Forcibly disappeared for two years after his term expired…
Arrested 2012
HM-SA-2018-001
Imprisoned
Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan
Saudi Red Crescent aid worker forcibly disappeared in March 2018 over an anonymous satirical Twitter account. Sentenced to 20 years in prison…
Day 3,008 · since 2018-03-12
HM-SA-2017-001
Imprisoned
Abdulaziz Al-Shubaili
Abdulaziz Al-Shubaili is a lawyer and founding member of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association who defended fellow activists in court…
Day 3,184 · since 2017-09-17
HM-SA-2017-002
Imprisoned
Mohammed Al-Otaibi
Mohammed Al-Otaibi co-founded the Union for Human Rights in Riyadh. He fled to Qatar in 2017 to escape prosecution and was deported…
Hunger strike
Day 3,300 · since 2017-05-24
HM-SA-2020-001
Released
Ziad Al-Sufyani
Ziad Al-Sufyani is a podiatrist who founded a university reading club and edited Wikipedia pages on women's rights. He was arrested during…
Arrested 2020
HM-SA-2022-001
Imprisoned
Mohammed Al-Ghamdi
Mohammed Nasser Al-Ghamdi is a teacher from Abha, Saudi Arabia, whose brother is a dissident scholar in UK exile. Arrested in 2022…
Day 1,456 · since 2022-06-11