Saudi Arabia

#ReadRaif: Now More than Ever

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

Freedom of speech is the air that any thinker breathes; it’s the fuel that ignites the fire of an intellectual’s thoughts.
 
Many human rights organizations believe that freedom of speech is a basic human right, and they call upon the Arab regimes to reform their policies when it comes to freedom of speech. As a human being, you have the right to express yourself. You have the right to journey wherever your mind wanders and to express the thoughts you come up with along the way. You have the right to believe, and to atone, the same way you have the right to love or to hate. You have the right to be a liberal or to be an Islamist.—Raif Badawi, “1000 Lashes Because I Say What I Think“

If you believe freedom of speech is a precious commodity, “the air” we need to breathe, the most dangerous and assertive act you can perform in the name of that freedom is to keep using it, to keep at it. To keep writing.
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Dear Amnesty: Stop Crying Wolf

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

Is the human rights organization’s fundraising placing lives in danger? An article by Mark Aldrich and Raymond Johansen

* * * *
“They aren’t your money train. They are human beings.” Raymond Johansen, an activist and Anon who has been fighting for freedom for human rights prisoners around the world for years, has spent the last two weeks trying to protect three young prisoners in Saudi Arabia from Amnesty International’s clumsy embrace.

Two weeks ago, this headline appeared on Amnesty International’s website and its many Facebook and Twitter accounts: “Families Fear Their Sons Will Be Executed Within 24 Hours.” The three sons in question—Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, Dawood al-Marhoon, and Abdullah al-Zaher—are also featured on Reprieve’s “Urgent” death penalty cases page. Interviews with Ali al-Nimr’s family will be featured in a PBS Frontline documentary, “Saudi Arabia Uncovered,” that will be broadcast on March 29.

Indeed, the three officially remain on death row in Saudi Arabia, so their lives are in the hands of that nation’s judiciary. The world is watching. However, in October 2015, that nation assured Phillip Hammond, the British Foreign Minister, that Ali will not be executed, and Mr. Hammond did the unprecedented and announced this in bold and clear language: “I do not expect Mr al-Nimr to be executed.”

Might Saudi Arabia renege on this promise? It might. Had Amnesty International, Reprieve, or the families of the three youths learned something new two weeks ago? They had not. And yet that phrase, “Families fear their sons will be executed within 24 hours,” has propagated on Twitter and Facebook, usually with a link to an Amnesty action page (signature and donations welcome).
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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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