Activism

Fighting for Her Brother’s Freedom

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

Nous cherchons désespérément de l’aide pour soutenir notre frère à défendre sa cause et sauver sa vie.—a request for help by Zeinab Abu Al-Khair

“Désespérément.” Translation: We are desperately looking for help to save our brother’s life. Zeinab Abu Al-Khair wrote that today in a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Zeinab lives in Canada). She is appealing to the world community for help in rescuing her brother from an unjust death sentence.

Her brother’s story first appeared here in November, in a column titled, “A Bloodthirsty System.” Thanks to Zeinab, who contacted me on Facebook last fall, I was the first columnist to report Hussein Abu Al-Khair’s arrest, trial, imprisonment, and death sentence. His story is similar to dozens in Saudi Arabia, after all, so how else could one man’s plight attract attention?

Thanks to her tireless efforts, many more people have become aware of his story via Twitter and websites like Movements.org. The artist George Riad Krohn volunteered his time and work and created the charcoal drawing seen at the top.
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Help #SaveThe3

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

If the United States government truly stands for freedom and democracy, it must stop Saudi Arabia from carrying out this egregious violation of basic human rights. It must pressure King Salman to release all political prisoners, including Ali Mohamed al-Nimr, Dawood al-Marhoon, and Abdullah al-Zaher, who were all minors at the time of their arrest.—a petition, “Ban Weapons Sales to Saudi Arabia Until They End Juvenile Executions”

An online friend of this website, Esha P., started a petition today to demand the United States to “Ban Weapons Sales to Saudi Arabia Until They End Juvenile Executions” via the activist website MoveOn.org. (Full disclosure: mine is the third signature on it.) I urge readers to sign it, too.
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#SaveThe3: The World Is Watching

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

The fear that the executions of three young men arrested by Saudi Arabian authorities while they were juveniles are imminent may be legitimate and the reasons for applying pressure on the Saudi government to spare their lives ought to be kept front and center in activists’ minds each day, but a clear eye and caution must be maintained while interpreting the pronouncements of the Saudi judicial system.

It was striking that Amnesty International and Reprieve, two organizations that are tenacious human rights defenders but also cautious as organizations, on Friday began to publicize fears that the three executions were hours away from taking place, given that the fears came from a single source: an article in a Saudi newspaper, Okaz.

One can hazard a guess as to the effect this publicity had on the families and loved ones of Dawood al-Marhoon, Abdullah al-Zaher, Ali Mohammad al-Nimr: on one hand, it may have been heartening to witness the world bearing witness with speed and ferocity, as the #SaveThe3 hashtag started trending on Twitter, but it also may have given needless vitality to the fears for the worst outcomes that the families already live with every day. The three were sentenced to death last year, and, for the families each day opens and closes with the knowledge of this in their hearts.

A source reported to me this afternoon that Ali spoke with his family by phone on Friday, and that Abdullah spoke with his family today, Sunday, March 13.
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