• Human Rights In Saudi Arabia

    Saudis are increasingly and openly discussing government affairs on Twitter and Facebook-a ban on women driving, arbitrary detention of peaceful dissidents and terror suspects, and corruption, among others-but the government in 2011 banned public protests, tightened press laws, and arrested scores of peaceful rights advocates and protesters. Saudi Arabia struggles with a poorly defined and nontransparent justice system based on religion that metes out draconian sentences. Women and minority Shia citizens face systematic discrimination. Immigration and labor restrictions on migrant workers facilitate widespread abuse. Western countries remained largely silent about poor rights conditions in the kingdom.

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Saudi Arabia

  • In Saudi Arabia, women are confined by technology
    Dec 24, 2012
    Text messages are the ultimate convenience, used by people worldwide to communicate, often to notify friends and families of their whereabouts. In many countries, new technologies can serve to enhance individual liberty. But technology does not always liberate.
  • Saudi Arabia: Website Editor Facing Death Penalty
    Dec 22, 2012
    Saudi authorities should immediately drop all charges against the detained editor of a website created to foster debate about religion and religious figures in Saudi Arabia
  • Saudi Arabia: Free Detainee Held Since April for Tweets
    Oct 30, 2012
    The Saudi authorities should immediately charge or release Mohammed Salama, a dual US and Saudi citizen detained without charge since April 2012.
  • Saudi Arabia: Stop Prosecuting Peaceful Protesters
    Oct 28, 2012
    Saudi authorities should stop using the courts to prosecute and punish people for peaceful protest.
  • Workplace Battle Continues for Saudi Women
    Aug 22, 2012
    Saudi women’s participation in the labor force has tripled, to close to 15 percent, over the past two decades, but is still among the lowest in the region.
  • For Saudi Judo Player, a Quick Loss But a Barrier Broken
    Aug 3, 2012
    In just over a minute yesterday, Saudi judo player Wojdan Shahrkhani lost in her Olympic debut. But in doing so, she joined the winner’s circle by breaking a Saudi government-imposed barrier that previously prevented women from competing in the Olympics. Perhaps as important, her participation disproved the common assumption in the diplomatic community that the Saudi government does not respond to international pressure when it comes to advancing women's rights.
  • Women and Girls in Saudi Sport
    Jul 31, 2012
    As the countdown to the London 2012 Olympic Games advances, the International Olympic Committee has done a lot of talking, but taken no action to address Saudi Arabia’s persistent flouting of IOC membership rules. Those rules state that sport is the right of every person and that discrimination on the basis of gender, race, or other factors is incompatible with Olympic values.
  • Olympics: For Saudi Women, Only a Starting Line
    Jul 26, 2012
    The participation of two Saudi female athletes in the London Olympics is an important first step but does not go far enough in addressing entrenched problems of gender discrimination in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia should end the effective ban preventing millions of women and girls from practicing sports inside the kingdom.
  • Saudi Arabia: Free Editor Held Under Cybercrime Law
    Jul 16, 2012
    Saudi authorities should drop charges and release the editor of the Free Saudi Liberals website for violating his right to freedom of expression on matters of religion and religious figures. Prosecutors have charged Ra’if Badawi under the 2007 Anti-Cybercrime law, alleging that his website “infringes on religious values” by providing a platform for open debate of views on religion and religious figures.
  • Saudi Arabia: Female Athletes at Olympics will be ‘Breakthrough’
    Jul 12, 2012
    Saudi Arabia‘s National Olympic Committee’s decision to send two women athletes to the London Olympic Games is a breakthrough for Saudi women’s sports. However, there are still no signs of any advance in ending an effective ban on women and girls practicing sports inside the kingdom.
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