URGENT ACTION

MANAHEL AL-OTAIBI SUBJECTED TO TORTURE IN SAUDI PRISON
After one month of incommunicado detention, Manahel al-Otaibi contacted her family on 1 September 2024 and told them she was again being held in solitary confinement and brutally beaten by fellow prisoners and prison guards. On 9 January 2024 Saudi Arabia’s infamous Specialized Criminal Court sentenced Manahel al-Otaibi, a 30-year-old fitness instructor and women’s rights activist, to 11 years in prison for “terrorist offences” in a secret trial. She was arrested on 16 November 2022 and charged with violating the Anti-Cyber Crime Law due to her tweets in support of women’s rights as well as posting photos of herself at the mall without an abaya (a traditional loose-fitting long-sleeved robe) on Snapchat. Saudi authorities had forcibly disappeared Manahel al-Otaibi between 5 November 2023 and 14 April 2024. 

TAKE ACTION: WRITE AN APPEAL IN YOUR OWN WORDS OR USE THIS MODEL LETTER

Waleed Mohammed Al Smani
Minister of Justice
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Postal Code 11472, P.O.Box 7775
Email: minister-office@moj.gov.sa

Your Excellency,

I am distressed to learn that 30-year-old fitness instructor and women’s rights activist Manahel al-Otaibi is being subjected to torture and other ill-treatment in al-Malaz Prison. After a one-month period of renewed incommunicado detention, Manahel al-Otaibi was able to contact her family and she alleged she had been held in solitary confinement for a full month and subject to beatings by prison guards and fellow prisoners. She also told her family that she was forced to clean toilets, and that although she was released from solitary confinement to contact them, prison authorities had threatened that they would be sending her back. 

On 9 January 2024, the Specialized Criminal Court sentenced Manahel al-Otaibi to eleven years in prison for “terrorist offences” after a secret trial where she was found guilty under articles 43 and 44 of the Kingdom’s Law for Combatting Terrorism and its Financing. Manahel al-Otaibi’s family have not had access to her court documents, or the evidence presented against her. 

Manahel al-Otaibi was arrested on 16 November 2022 and charged with violating the Anti-Cyber Crime Law for tweeting hashtags in support of women’s rights and posting photos on Snapchat of herself at the mall wearing “immodest” clothing. Her case was first heard by the Criminal Court in Riyadh on 23 January 2023 who referred her to the Specialized Criminal Court. According to court documents reviewed by Amnesty International, Manahel al-Otaibi was charged with “publishing and spreading content that contains committing public sins and inciting individuals and girls in society to renounce religious principles and social values and to violate public order and public morals on her Twitter account”, in violation of the Anti-Cybercrime Law. The charges against her are based on her social media posts which were “opposed to regulations and laws that relate to women”, including through calling to #EndMaleGuardianship. 

Saudi authorities forcibly disappeared Manahel al-Otaibi between 5 November 2023 and 14 April 2024. On 14 April 2024, after a period more than five months of enforced disappearance, she called her family to inform them that she was being held in solitary confinement in al-Malaz Prison with a broken leg after being brutally beaten, and without access to medical care. 

Her sister Fawzia al-Otaibi told Amnesty International that she believes the only reason Manahel al-Otaibi was finally permitted a phone call was in order to convey a message to her family to stop being publicly outspoken about her imprisonment. 

I urge you to order the immediate and unconditional release of Manahel al-Otaibi, as she has been convicted solely for peacefully exercising her right to freedom of expression. Pending her release, she must be granted immediate access to medical care, and her allegations of torture and other ill-treatment must be impartially investigated. 

Yours sincerely,

Additional information
Manahel al-Otaibi’s case was first heard by the Criminal Court in Riyadh. On 23 January 2023, the Criminal Court ruled that it had no jurisdiction to try this case, and referred the case to the notorious terrorism court, the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) in the capital, Riyadh. The SCC has routinely used vague provisions under the anti-cybercrime and counter-terror laws equating peaceful expression with “terrorism”. Amnesty International has documented how every stage of the SCC judicial process is tainted by human rights violations. Since 2018, Saudi authorities have arbitrarily detained Saudi women’s rights activists who campaigned for the end of the male guardianship system and the right to drive in Saudi Arabia. Women’s rights activists reported facing sexual harassment, torture and other forms of ill-treatment during interrogation. Those released are under travel bans and face restrictions on their freedom of expression.
Both of Manahel al-Otaibi’s sisters have also faced charges related to their campaigning for women’s rights. In the same case against Manahel al-Otaibi submitted by the public prosecution to the Riyadh Criminal Court, the Public Prosecutor accused her sister Fawzia al-Otaibi of leading “a propaganda campaign to incite Saudi girls to denounce religious principles and rebel against customs and traditions in the Saudi culture” and using a hashtag “which promotes liberation and the fall of male guardianship”. The court document, reviewed by Amnesty International, states that a separate order would be issued for Fawzia al-Otaibi’s arrest. Their other sister Mariam al-Otaibi, a prominent campaigner against male guardianship in the Kingdom, has previously been charged and detained for her women’s rights activism, and is currently under travel ban.
 
In a similar case to Manahel al-Otaibi’s, on 25 January 2023, the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) resentenced Salma al- Shehab, a Leeds University PhD student and mother of two, to 27 years in prison, followed by a 27-year travel ban upon appeal. The SCC convicted Salma al-Shehab of terrorism-related offences after a grossly unfair trial for publishing tweets in support of women’s rights. 
Nearly all human rights defenders, women’s rights activists, independent journalists, writers and activists in the country have been arbitrarily detained, put through prolonged and unfair trials – most often by the SCC – or released but under conditions that include travel bans and other arbitrary restrictions to their fundamental rights, such as to conduct peaceful activism.
As of January 2024, Amnesty International has documented the cases of 69 individuals who had been prosecuted solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, including human rights defenders, peaceful political activists, journalists, poets and clerics. Of those, 32 were prosecuted for peacefully expressing their opinions on social media. Amnesty International is aware that the real number of such prosecutions is likely much higher.

PREFERRED LANGUAGE TO ADDRESS TARGET: English and Arabic.
You can also write in your own language.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE UNTIL: 6 March 2025.
Please check with the Amnesty office in your country if you wish to send appeals after the deadline.

NAME AND PRONOUN: Manahel al-Otaibi (she/her).

LINK TO PREVIOUS UA: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde23/8012/2024/en/.

Additional targets

Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud is the Prime Minister and Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, and the de facto ruler of the country. He is not present on social media but could be reached at:

Phone:
00966114882222
Email:
admin@cpc.gov.sa
Fax:
00966114803572

His Excellency Hrh Prince Khalid Bin Bandar Bin Sultan Al-Saud
Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia
15 Curzon Street, London W1J 5HW
30 Charles Street, Mayfair, London, W1J 5DZ.
15-16 Queen Street, London W1J 5PQ
020 7917 3000
Salutation: Your Excellency