Türkiye: Syrian Refugee At Risk Of Extradition
Mohamad Alkayali left Saudi Arabia in early 2013 after facing harassment online for publicly criticizing Saudi authorities’ policies on Syrian refugees. He relocated to Türkiye, where he has legally resided as a refugee under temporary protection for over ten years. In 2015, while living in Türkiye, he and his family continued to face what his wife described as an “online harassment campaign” due to his criticism of Saudi Arabia’s human rights practices.
In 2018, Mohamad Alkayali was informed by Turkish authorities, while applying for Turkish citizenship, that an INTERPOL Red Notice had been issued against him. INTERPOL confirmed the notice in 2023. The Red Notice, issued by Saudi Arabia on 18 March 2016, is based on an arrest warrant issued on 3 January 2016 by the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution in Saudi Arabia charging him of “forgery of seals”, a charge he denies and has no knowledge of. Saudi authorities have not provided any formal charges or court documents to substantiate the accusations. He has challenged the Red Notice on legal grounds with INTERPOL, and while his request was deemed admissible in May 2024, no final decision has yet been made.
Despite the Red Notice being issued in 2016, Turkish authorities did not act on it for nearly nine years. On 27 December 2024, they arrested Mohamad Alkayali based on the Red Notice. Red Notices have been abused by governments to target people living abroad. Given Saudi Arabia’s documented use of transnational repression, Turkish authorities and INTERPOL must exercise increased scrutiny over this Red Notice and all Red Notices where they are requested by states that have a history of engaging in transnational repression.
Mohamad Alkayali’s wife has been unable to visit him due to travel restrictions placed on refugees in Türkiye. As a resident of Istanbul, she requires a special travel permit to leave the city, and her requests have been denied three times.
Amnesty International has documented Saudi authorities’ increasing crackdown on freedom of expression, including the prosecution of individuals for criticizing the government. Many have faced lengthy prison sentences for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly. Legal proceedings in these cases fall far short of international fair trial standards. Individuals are often held incommunicado without charge, in solitary confinement, and denied access to lawyers or the courts to challenge the lawfulness of their detention.
Since 2013, Amnesty International has documented the cases of 86 individuals 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, 40 were prosecuted for expressing their views on social media. Amnesty International is aware that the real number of such prosecutions is likely much higher.