Ali Mohammed al-Nimr will turn 22 on Wednesday, December 21. It will be his fifth birthday spent in prison.

There are two things about Ali Mohammed al-Nimr that we know today (December 16, 2016), and they are the same two sad, maddening things that we know about Ali al-Nimr every day: He remains in prison in Saudi Arabia and he is awaiting his fate. He still phones his father and mother once a week, which his father reports to the world via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. He is continuing his college studies in prison.

Reprieve, the international human rights organization, created a page this week for people to sign a birthday card for Ali. In the last hour, the number of signatures on it has climbed from 3000 to 3700 to more than 4300 as of 1:41 p.m. EST. The photo at top is from that card; here is the link: “Wish Ali al-Nimr a Happy Birthday.”
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