Further information on UA: 188/15 Index: MDE 23/3193/2016 Saudi Arabia
Date: 13 January 2016
URGENT ACTION
WRITER JAILED BY COUNTER-TERRORISM COURT
Saudi Arabian writer Dr Zuhair Kutbi has been sentenced to four years in prison on charges
related to his peaceful activism. He is at risk of torture and other ill-treatment and is in need of
medical attention. He is a prisoner of conscience.
Dr Zuhair Kutbi was sentenced on 21 December to four years in prison by the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) in
Riyadh, followed by a five-year ban on overseas travel, a fine of 100,000 Saudi Arabian riyals (about US$26,600) and a
15-year ban on writing and giving interviews to the media. The court also ordered him to erase his social media accounts.
It suspended two years of his four-year sentence because of his health, but indicated it would reimpose them if he
“offended” again.
The SCC, a notoriously abusive counter-terrorism court, found Dr Zuhair Kutbi guilty of violating Saudi Arabia’s counterterror law, the Law for Crimes of Terrorism and Its Financing, and Article 6 of the Anti-Cyber Crime Law by “inciting public
opinion”, “sowing discord” and “reducing people’s respect of the rule of law”.
It is believed that he was arrested on 15 July because of comments he made on 25 June on the TV show Fi al-Samim (To
the Point), on the Rotana Khalijia satellite channel, in which he criticized political repression in Saudi Arabia and argued
for reforms such as transforming the country’s political system into a constitutional monarchy.
Since his arrest, he has been held in three different detention centres, where he has been interrogated and is thought to
have been ill-treated. He is currently detained in the Mecca General Prison. He is in need of medical attention as he is
recovering from an operation for cancer, and has diabetes and high blood pressure.
Please write immediately in Arabic, English or your own language:
 Calling on the authorities to release Dr Zuhair Kutbi immediately and unconditionally, as he is a prisoner of conscience,
jailed solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression;
 Urging them to ensure that he is protected from torture and other ill-treatment, given immediate access to any medical
attention he may require and regular access to his family.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 23 FEBRUARY 2016 TO:
King and Prime Minister
His Majesty King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al
Saud
The Custodian of the two Holy Mosques
Office of His Majesty the King
Royal Court, Riyadh
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Fax: (via Ministry of Interior)
+966 11 403 3125 (please keep trying)
Twitter: @KingSalman
Salutation: Your Majesty
Minister of Interior
His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin
Naif bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud
Minister of Interior
Ministry of the Interior, P.O. Box 2933,
Airport Road, Riyadh 11134
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Fax: +966 11 403 3125 (please keep trying)
Salutation: Your Excellency
And copies to:
President, Human Rights Commission
Bandar Mohammed ‘Abdullah al-Aiban
Human Rights Commission
PO Box 58889, Riyadh 11515
King Fahd Road
Building No. 3, Riyadh
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Fax: +966 11 418 5101
Also send copies to:
Ambassador Adel Ahmed Al-Jubeir, Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia
601 New Hampshire Ave. NW, Washington DC 20037
Fax: 1 202 944 5983 I Phone: 1 202 342 3800 I Email: info@saudiembassy.net
Please let us know if you took action so that we can track our impact! EITHER send a short email to uan@aiusa.org with “UA 188/15” in the
subject line, and include in the body of the email the number of letters and/or emails you sent, OR fill out this short online form to let us know
how you took action. Thank you for taking action! Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office if taking action after the appeals date.
This is the first update of UA 188/15. Further information: www.amnesty.org /en/documents/mde23/2351/2015/en/
URGENT ACTION
WRITER JAILED BY COUNTER-TERRORISM COURT
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The Saudi Arabian authorities have systematically repressed all forms of peaceful dissent and activism since 2012 by
targeting activists and dissidents. By early 2014, most of Saudi Arabia’s prominent and independent human rights
defenders had been imprisoned or scared into silence, or had fled the country. Most of them had already been subjected
to arbitrary travel bans, and had been intimidated and harassed by the security forces, particularly the Ministry of Interior’s
General Directorate of Investigations (GDI, also known as al-Mabahith), before being prosecuted and given harsh
sentences. Many of them were sentenced after grossly unfair trials by the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC), a special
security and counter-terrorism court.
The systematic repression of human rights defenders and peaceful activists is part of a larger campaign by the authorities
to silence all forms of criticism that have revealed, either directly or indirectly, human rights violations committed by the
authorities. People targeted have included women’s rights activists, relatives of victims of human rights violations,
dissident Saudi Arabian Shi'a Muslims criticizing discrimination against their community, and anyone who communicates
with international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International.
Members of the independent Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) have borne the brunt of this
persecution. Eight of the organization’s founding members are in prison either serving their sentence or awaiting the
outcome of their retrial before the SCC. Only two members are at liberty, pending the outcome of trials before the SCC. Dr
Abdullah al-Hamid, Dr Mohammad al-Qahtani, Dr Suliaman al-Rashudi, Dr Abdulkareem al-Khoder, Dr Abdulrahman alHamid, Fowzan al-Harbi, Mohammed al-Bajad and Omar al-Sa’id are serving prison sentences of up to 15 years, to be
followed by a travel ban of equal duration, for their peaceful activism.
Since February 2014, the authorities have used the counter-terror law to further target human rights activists and peaceful
dissidents. At least two ACPRA members have, years into their imprisonment, seen their trials reopened before the SCC
under the new counter-terror law, after having been convicted and sentenced on the same charges under other laws or by
other courts. Three other ACPRA members were brought to trial before the SCC after the counter-terror law was
introduced, including Dr Abdulrahman al-Hamid.
The Saudi Arabian authorities have also used the counter-terror law to silence and imprison a number of other
independent human rights activists and dissidents. Lawyer Waleed Abu al-Khair was the first Saudi Arabian human rights
defender to be sentenced under the 2014 counter-terror law, on 6 July 2014. He is now serving a 15-year prison
sentence, to be followed by 15-year travel ban and a fine, after the court found him guilty of “disobeying the ruler and
seeking to remove his legitimacy”, “insulting the judiciary and questioning the integrity of judges”, “setting up an
unlicensed organization”, “harming the reputation of the state by communicating with international organizations” and
“preparing, storing and sending information that harms public order” (see UA 98/14,
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde23/1546/2015/en/).
Name: Zuhair Kutbi
Gender m/f: m
Further information on UA: 188/15 Index: MDE 23/3193/2016 Issue Date: 13 January 2016
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