Mohammad Fahad al-Qahtani
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Mohammad Fahad al-Qahtani
OR:
Mohammad Fahad al-Qahtani on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

Mohammad Fahad Muflih al-Qahtani (, born 1965) is a human rights activist, economics professor and political prisoner currently jailed at Al-Ha’ir Prison in
Riyadh Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of th ...
co-founding and later leading the
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
human rights organisation Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association prior to his arbitrary 2012 arrest. Alkarama described al-Qahtani as "one of Saudi_Arabian_judiciary's.html" ;"title="Legal system in Saudi Arabia">Saudi Arabian judiciary's">Legal system in Saudi Arabia">Saudi Arabian judiciary'smost eloquent and fervent critics". On 9 March 2013, al-Qahtani was sentenced to ten years in prison followed by a ten-year travel ban, ostensibly for "co-founding an unlicensed civil association". He has carried out several hunger strikes to protest Saudi prison conditions endured during his politically motivated incarceration. As of 2022, he remains jailed and has been intermittently kept in solitary confinement since 2018. In 2018, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award, together with other jailed activists Abdullah al-Hamid and Waleed Abulkhair for "their visionary and courageous efforts, guided by universal human rights principles, to reform the totalitarian political system in Saudi Arabia." Their awards were received on their behalf by his son Omar al-Qahtani and Yahya Assiri.Jailed Saudi activists honored with Right Livelihood Award
Deutsche Welle


Education and academic career

Mohammad Fahad al-Qahtani has a PhD from
Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...
in the United States. , he was employed as an economics professor at the Institute of Diplomatic Affairs of the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.


Human rights activities


2008 hunger strike

In November 2008, al-Qahtani was among 20 human rights activists who started a two-day
hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...
in protest against the imprisonment without fair, public trials of 11 activists, including Suliman al-Reshoudi and former university professors. Al-Qahtani stated that
petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to some offi ...
s calling for the activists to receive fair trials and better conditions of detention were ignored, and that freedom of speech and freedom of assembly were not respected in Saudi Arabia.


2009 Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association

Al-Qahtani co-founded the Saudi Arabian human rights organisation Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) in October 2009 together with
Mohammed Saleh al-Bejadi Mohammed Saleh al-Bejadi (or ''Muhammad'', ''Salih'', ''al-Bajadi'', ''albjadi'') is a co-founder of the Saudi Arabian human rights organisation Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) who has campaigned for prisoners' rights since ...
and nine others. , he continued to be active in ACPRA.


2011 prisoner demonstration

On 5 Feb 2011, about 40 women demonstrated in front of the Interior Ministry in central Riyadh, calling for the release of prisoners. Mohammed al-Qahtani later told Reuters, "The women demand to free people imprisoned in the campaign against terrorism. Many people have been held up for a long time without trial, or have nothing to do with al Qaeda.

According to an ACPRA website, they were carrying signs that said, "free our prisoners or try them in a fair public court.


2012 court case


Charges and trial

Al-Qahtani was charged in a Saudi court on 18 June 2012 on 11 charges related to his human rights activism, including: If convicted, penalties for al-Qahtani could include a 5-year prison term, a travel ban and a fine. Another founding member of ACPRA,
Mohammed al-Bejadi Mohammed Saleh al-Bejadi (or ''Muhammad'', ''Salih'', ''al-Bajadi'', ''albjadi'') is a co-founder of the Saudi Arabian human rights organisation Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) who has campaigned for prisoners' rights since 2 ...
received a four-year jail sentence in April 2012. One of the charges against al-Qahtani was "sending 'false information presented as facts to the official international mechanisms.'" The human rights organisation Alkarama interpreted this to refer to al-Qahtani's founding role in ACPRA and ACPRA's work with Alkarama in preparing documents to give to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. Mohammad al-Qahtani's trial started on 1 September 2012 with nine charges, including "setting up an unlicensed organisation and breaking allegiance to the king". The trial of Abdullah al-Hamid, another ACPRA co-founder, started on the same day. Supporters of al-Qahtani and al-Hamid were initially present in the courtroom. Text and photo reports of the trial were published live on the social networking services Twitter and Facebook, which was described by the Sebastian Usher of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
as "a measure of transparency that is unusual in Saudi Arabia". The judge ordered some of the audience to leave the court room. According to
Al Arabiya Arabiya ( ar, العربية, transliterated: '; meaning "The Arabic One" or "The Arab One") is an international Arabic news television channel, currently based in Dubai, that is operated by the media conglomerate MBC. The channel is a fl ...
, those ordered to leave were mobile phone users, and according to the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, those ordered to leave were al-Qahtani's and al-Hamid's supporters and family. On 9 March 2013, he was found guilty of several charges and sentenced to ten years in prison followed by ten years of travel ban.


International reaction

On 29 June, the
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
spoke on al-Qahtani's behalf at the 20th session of the
United Nations Human Rights Council The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), CDH is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis. ...
, stating its "uttermost concern over the targeting of activists for their cooperation with international human rights protection mechanisms" and referring specifically to the charges against al-Qahtani. Amnesty International described the charges as "part of a series of recent trials aimed at silencing human rights activists" in Saudi Arabia. Later, it described the sentence as an evidence of "Saudi Arabian authorities' inability to deal with any opinion that contradicts their own."
Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
described the sentence as being "outrageous."


Imprisonment

Al-Qahtani was shifted into solitary confinement on 17 December 2018. He carried out several
hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...
s in 2020 and 2021 in protest against prison conditions. On 26 May 2022, al-Qahtani was assaulted by a mentally ill prisoner. Other prisoners defended al-Qahtani and stopped the assault.


Points of view


Low-end jobs for Saudi women

In 2009, Al-Qatani opposed the opening of housemaid jobs to Saudi women, saying that low-end jobs should be performed by migrant workers. The statement was made in response to a report that 30 Saudi women recruited through an employment agency had taken on jobs as domestic workers. Al-Qahtani criticized the ministry of labor for forcing Saudis into low-end jobs, saying they should instead start from the top, since high-end jobs were readily available, and there were plenty of expatriates to fill the menial jobs


Women to Drive movement

On 17 June 2011, Al-Qatani tweeted, "My wife, Maha, and I have just come from a 45-minute drive, she was the driver through Riyadh streets," a reference to the Women to drive movement, Women2Drive movement, a campaign for Saudi women's right to drive that called for Saudi women to start driving starting 17 June 2011


Human rights

Al-Qahtani believes that all people, including those suspected of terrorist activities, have the right to a fair trial.


Arab Spring

In April 2011, al-Qahtani stated in relation to the Saudi-led Peninsula Shield Force intervention in the Bahraini uprising: In early 2011, al-Qahtani believed that "the only serious way to seek change is by slow and concentrated steps". He suggested that the families of
political prisoners A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although nu ...
would be more motivated to carry out street protests, especially if women participated, compared to "liberals". During the Arab Spring events of early 2011, al-Qahtani received telephone calls from political prisoners' families, prior to a 5 February 2011 protest in front of the
Ministry of Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...
in
Riyadh Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of th ...
by 50 women. Al-Qahtani stated that "the small group spent the night in jail, but they got serious news coverage in the process." In June 2012, after being charged in court for his human rights activities, al-Qahtani stated:


See also

* Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA)


References


External links

*
A scanned copy of the official charges in the Trial of al-Hamid and al-Qahtani.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Qahtani, Mohammad Fahad Living people Human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabian human rights activists Saudi Arabian academics Indiana University alumni Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabian prisoners and detainees People of the 2011–2012 Saudi Arabian protests 1965 births