Amnesty Urges Saudi to End Repressive Practices→

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Human rights watchdog Amnesty International says 2013 promises to be a dark year for freedom of expression and of association in Saudi Arabia:

Not content with imprisoning dozens of prominent human rights activists in 2012, the Saudi Arabian authorities have expanded the scope of their repression of peaceful activists by imposing more travel bans for unspecified reasons and durations, by disbanding at least one civil society organization as well as removing its social media accounts, and taking steps towards banning social media applications if these cannot be fully monitored and controlled.

As the Saudi Arabian authorities impose these additional restrictions on freedoms of expression and association, they continue to violate their international human right obligations as well as, in some instances, national law.

New Saudi Rights Group Calls for Abolishing Death Penalty→

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Osama Khalid for Global Voices:

Following last month's court ruling to dissolve the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) and to confiscate its (nonexistent) properties, a group of activists yesterday announced a new independent association called the Union for Human Rights. Among its stated goals, the association is seeking an end to deterrent executions, an issue rarely raised in the kingdom.

Sweeping Injustices→

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From the chapter on Saudi Arabia in Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2013:

Saudi Arabia in 2012 stepped up arrests and trials of peaceful dissidents, and responded with force to demonstrations by citizens. Authorities continue to suppress or fail to protect the rights of 9 million Saudi women and girls and 9 million foreign workers. As in past years, thousands of people have received unfair trials or been subject to arbitrary detention. The year has seen trials against half-a-dozen human rights defenders and several others for their peaceful expression or assembly demanding political and human rights reforms.

Saudi Human Rights Group Sues Government Over License

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On November 25, the Court of Grievances will issue its verdict in the case of Adalah Center for Human Rights against the Ministry of Social Affairs. Adalah Center has sued the ministry after it was denied a license to operate legally, according to al-Yaum newspaper.

Saudi Arabia is yet to approve a proposed law to license and regulate civil society organizations, but if the Qatif-based Adalah Center won the case it could set a legal precedent and encourage other unlicensed organizations to do the same.

The Ministry of Social Affairs has refused to grant a license to the Center on the basis that they can only license charities and that the activities of Adalah Center is not covered by their definition of what is a charity. They also said that the Human Rights Commission is the government body responsible for issuing licenses to human rights organizations.

The lawyer for Adalah Center, Taha al-Hejji, told the newspaper that the Center started under the name “Rights Activists Network” in 2009. The official site of Adalah Center mentions December 10, 2011 as the date of founding. The lawyer said there are 21 founding members, including three women.

As they wait for the verdict in this legal battle, the Center has been actively working to document and report on the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia, especially in the Eastern Province that has witnessed frequent protests over the past 18 months. They are one of several local human rights groups operating in the country without proper licensing.

The National Society for Human Rights is the only human rights group operating legally in the country. It was founded with government approval in 2004. NSHR is technically an NGO but they actually receive financial support from the government.

On Unlicensed Saudi Rights Groups

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Saudi Arabia has two officially licensed human rights organizations. One of them is the governmental Human Rights Commission (HRC). The other is the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), which is an NGO in theory but still receives support from the government, i.e. it is not independent.

Many activists have applied to establish human rights organizations in recent years, but the government has not granted any licenses to any of those activists. Some of them decided that waiting while the government showed no sign that their approval is forthcoming was not an option, so they began operating within a grey legal area.

Lawyer activist Walid Abualkhair decided to take a different path. Abualkhair decided to register his organization, Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia (MHRSA), first in Canada then seek permission to operate in Saudi Arabia. Today, he posted three tweets about where are they with that process:

Translation:

After registering our rights organization in Canada, we wrote to the King a request to open an office and operate in Saudi Arabia

Our request was secretly transferred from the royal court to the security affairs at the interior ministry three months ago, and it has been there since then

As the president of the organization and the one who wrote the request on behalf of myself and my colleagues, I have asked what was the King’s instructions regarding the request. I was told it is a secret file and that it is under processing at the interior ministry.

With the civil society law still held by the Cabinet and waiting for their approval, these organizations and their applications for license to work are in limbo. The lack of a clear legal framework means the government can not only shut them down any time they want, but also take them to court.

 

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