Human rights in Saudi Arabia

[6] The 1990s marked a slow period of political liberalization in the kingdom as the government created a written constitution, and the advisory Consultative Council, the latter being an appointed delegation of Saudi scholars and professionals that are allowed to advise the king.

The two men were arrested in January 2018 by a special Saudi security force, al-Saif al-Ajrab Brigade, as part of a broad purge of prominent royal family members, government officials, and influential business people, set up by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

[21] The death penalty is permitted in Saudi Arabia for such crimes as rape, murder, apostasy, sedition, sorcery, armed robbery, adultery and drug trafficking.

[42] In 2016, a Saudi man was sentenced to 2,000 lashes, ten years in prison and a fine of 20,000 riyals (US$5,300) for making tweets critical of Islam, and denying the existence of God.

Adam Coogle, a Middle East researcher for Human Rights Watch, said Fayadh's death sentence showed Saudi Arabia's "complete intolerance of anyone who may not share government-mandated religious, political and social views".

[80] According to the report, since 2010, at least 20 prominent Saudi dissidents were sentenced to a long prison term or a travel ban for some years; the offenses ranged from breaking allegiance with the ruling family[clarification needed] to participating in protests demanding rights be respected.

The British media cited that the nation has been readily exploiting the weakness in global mobile telecom network called SS7, and informed that the data reviewed by them shows millions of covert tracking requests for the US location of Saudi-registered phones since November 2019.

[101] Local and international women's groups are also pushing governments to respond, taking advantage of the fact that some rulers are eager to project a more progressive image to the West.

[114] In July 2018, two prominent female human rights activists, Samar Badawi and Nassima al-Sada, were arrested for challenging Saudi Arabia's male guardianship laws.

[115] According to Amnesty International, several arrested women's rights activists detained without charge in Dhahban Prison are enduring torture by electrocution, flogging, hanging from the ceiling, and sexual assault.

[125] In 1990, when 47 Saudi women drove cars through the streets of Riyadh in protest against the ban, protestors were punished and was reported: "All the drivers, and their husbands, were barred from foreign travel for a year.

Men and women from Central Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, and many other countries voluntarily travel to Saudi Arabia as domestic servants or other low-skilled labourers, but some subsequently face conditions indicative of involuntary servitude.

[140] Women, primarily from Asian and African countries are trafficked into Saudi Arabia for commercial sexual exploitation; others were kidnapped and forced into prostitution after running away from abusive employers.

Women are led to believe they are being wed in earnest, but upon arrival in Saudi Arabia subsequently become their husbands' sexual slaves, are forced into domestic labor and, in some cases, prostitution.

[142] Racism in Saudi Arabia extends to allegations of imprisonment, physical abuse, rape,[143] overwork and wage theft, especially of foreign workers who are given little protections under the law.

[152] Testifying before the US Congressional Human Rights Caucus, Ali al-Ahmed, Director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs, stated: Saudi Arabia is a glaring example of religious apartheid.

Human Rights Watch criticized the broad language of the legislation and related government decrees, which have been used to prosecute and punish peaceful political activists and dissidents.

The country holds a reservation to the Convention on the Rights of the Child against any provisions that are in conflict with sharia law;[157] Article 14 gives freedom of "thought, conscience and religion" to children.

Another by Abdul-Rahman al-Jibrin, a member of the Higher Council of Ulama is on record as saying Some people say that the rejectionists (Rafidha, i.e. Shia) are Muslims because they believe in God and Muhammad, pray and fast.

In November 2014 at al-Dalwah village in the eastern province of al-Ahsa, three unknown masked gunmen opened fire at a Husseiniya, or Shi'ite religious center, killing eight and injuring dozens.

[176] Shiites are disqualified as witnesses in court, as Saudi Sunni sources cite the Shi'a practice of Taqiyya, wherein it is permissible to lie while they are in fear or at risk of significant persecution.

Shia cannot serve as judges in ordinary court, and are banned from gaining admission to military academies,[172] and from high-ranking government or security posts, including becoming pilots in Saudi Airlines.

[185] The clashes began in May 2017,[185] By August, locals had reported that between one- and two-dozen people had been killed in the shelling of the city and by sniper fire in what The Independent described as a "siege".

[187] According to Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch in 2009, "Saudi judges have harshly punished confessed 'witches' for what at worst appears to be fraud, but may well be harmless acts.

[194] Foreign domestic workers who bring unfamiliar traditional religious or folk customs are a disproportionately affected by the anti-witchcraft campaign according to Human Rights Watch researchers Adam Coogle and Cristoph Wilcke.

Human rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul was forcibly repatriated from the United Arab Emirates in 2017, jailed for a short time, banned from future international travel, and then disappeared after being arrested again in 2018.

After her passport was taken and authorities in Thailand acted at the request of the Saudi government to stop her travel, she barricaded herself in her hotel room and pleaded on social media for international assistance.

[241] The letter, which is the first collective rebuke of the kingdom, demanded the release of prominent women activists, including Loujain al-Hathloul, Hatoon al-Fassi and Samar Badawi.

[242] In July 2019, following increased pressure from non-profit organization Human Rights Foundation, Nicki Minaj pulled out of the Jeddah World Fest, Saudi Arabia in support of the nation's suppressed women and LGBTQ community.

[248] On 15 January 2022, the three-time Grand Slam champion, Andy Murray, rejected seven-figure appearance fee to play in Saudi Arabia over human rights concerns.