Access Now, ALQST for Human Rights, ARTICLE 19, Global Voices (GV), the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), and IFEX called on Saudi Arabia to instantly release two Saudi doctors and internet activists who were arrested in 2020 for their online activism.
One of the two activists, Osama Khalid, has been sentenced to more than 30 years in prison.
Khalid is one of Saudi Arabia’s most public-facing and well-known internet freedom advocates. His own Wikipedia page states that his work as part of Wikipedia has had a huge impact on his life, and that defending and promoting internet freedom was one of his priorities.
The other activist, Ziad Al-Sufyani, was sentenced to eight years in prison.
The report, published by ARTICLE 19, was picked up by Twitter users and circulated through social media, where users called for the immediate release of the activists.
The human rights organization said the scale of repression in Saudi Arabia has drastically increased during the past few years, as Saudi authorities made efforts not only to enhance their control of the internet, but also to silence dissenting voices online.
The six human rights NGOs, according to ARTICLE 19, call on the authorities in Saudi Arabia to respect public freedoms including freedom of expression, both online and offline.