The Saudi authorities continue to arbitrary detain the head of the Islamic Press Association, Dr. Ahmed Al-Suwaian, for the 48th month since finishing his sentence.
Al-Suwaian has spent 7 years in detention with no legal basis, as he was arrested on September 20, 2017, and sentenced to three years in prison. Despite finishing his sentence, the authorities have been delaying his release since September 2020.
Dr. Al-Suwaian is one of the victims of the famous September 2017 arrest campaign, the largest arrests campaign in Saudi Arabia.
The campaign included a number of preachers and academics, such as Dr. Salman Al-Awda, Dr. Awad Al-Qarni, the academic at the Higher Institute of the Judiciary, Abdulaziz Al-Fawzan, the Imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saleh Al-Talib, and Dr. Safar Al-Hawali. It also included intellectuals and economists, such as Issam Al-Zamel, Abdullah Al-Maliki, Jameel Farsi, and Mustafa Al-Hassan, who was later released due to having cancer. The arrest campaign also included journalists and a number of activists, both male and female.
The continued detention of Dr. Al-Suwaian after serving his sentence raises questions about Saudi Arabia’s commitment to justice and legal principles that should be at the heart of the criminal justice system, and points to the importance of having transparent and fair judicial procedures and mechanisms to investigate such cases and release detainees after serving their sentences.
