Profile in Persecution

Ahmed Abdulla AlAjaimi

Updated – Ahmed Abdulla AlAjaimi, a 21-year-old Bahraini young man from Karranah City and a first-year student at Ahlia University, was arbitrarily arrested in 2017. He was subjected to torture, enforced disappearance, and insults based on religion. He is currently held in Jau Prison after being sentenced in 2018 to seven years imprisonment in an unfair trial. Ahmed’s health is dangerously and rapidly deteriorating amid deliberate and suspicious medical neglect subjected to him by the prison administration.

When he was a minor, Ahmed was repeatedly arrested in reprisal for his participation in peaceful protests and association with political opposition. His most recent arrest was on 1 November 2017, when he was apprehended from King Fahd Causeway by plainclothes officers, Riot Police officers, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officers, and officers from the National Security Agency (NSA) – an intelligence agency separate from the Ministry of Interior (MoI).

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Saudi Arabia

One year after the disappearance of Mohammed al-Qahtani: condemning Saudi Arabia for committing enforced disappearances

3 November 2023 – On 22 November 2022, Mohammed al-Qahtani had to be released after the ten years of questionable sentence he received. However, since October 2022, Saudi Arabian authorities have refused to give information about him despite the expiration of his sentence. The refusal of Saudi authorities to release him makes this a case of enforced disappearance for which Saudi Arabia has been called responsible at different times.

Al-Qahtani is a human rights defender and co-founder of the dismantled Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA). The association’s objective was to promote the development of human rights and freedoms in Saudi Arabia by proposing constitutional reforms. Predictably, the association was banned and dissolved by a court order in 2013. By 2016, the 11 founders of the ACPRA were sentenced for their human rights activism. On 9 March 2013Al-Qahtani was arrested arbitrarily and sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Criminal Court of Riyadh. The charges included allegations of inciting disorders and instigating international organizations against the Kingdom.

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Kuwait

Unveiling Exploitation of Migrant Workers in Kuwait

1 November 2023 – The sponsorship system, also known as the ‘kafala’ system, has been around since the 1950s. It was initially created to control migration into Arab countries. The Kafala system usually defines the relationship between foreign workers and their local sponsors, making them their employers. Under this system, states typically give these employers enough funding permits to bring in said workers, which then binds them to their employers and allows them to be easily exploited.

The Kafala system is not unique to Kuwait; it has also been implemented in Jordan, Lebanon, and all Arab Gulf states but in Iraq. Created to supply cheap, plentiful labor during an era of economic growth, the system has become increasingly controversial due to its exploitation of migrant workers.

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Are you a victim of a human rights abuse in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, or other GCC states?

Document your case with the Special Procedures of the United Nations through ADHRB's UN Complaint Program.

Contact us at: [email protected]

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