(Beirut) – The Bulgarian government is suspending without delay any plans to deport a Saudi human rights activist to Saudi Arabia, Human Rights Watch said today. He would be in grave danger of being arbitrarily arrested, tortured and subjected to an unfair trial if returned there.
Abdulrahman al-Khalidi has been a human rights activist for more than a decade, protecting the rights of prisoners in Saudi Arabia and opposing the government’s virtual propaganda, adding to his armies of online trolls. Al-Khalidi first fled Saudi Arabia in 2013, fearing for his protection because of his activism. In October 2021, he crossed Bulgaria seeking asylum after living in exile for nearly a decade. On February 7, 2024, Bulgaria’s National Security Agency issued a deportation order against al-Khalidi, putting him facing an imminent threat of deportation.
“Abdulrahman al-Khalidi has spent more than a decade risking his life protecting human rights, but now faces a serious risk of detention and torture if deported to Saudi Arabia by the Bulgarian government,” said Joey Shea, Saudi Arabia’s human rights researcher. . Look. ” Despite whitewashing efforts through Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto Saudi ruler, Saudi Arabia’s human rights record remains appalling, and al-Khalidi is in grave danger of being arbitrarily detained and tortured if forcibly returned. “
From 2011 to 2013, al-Khalidi lived in Saudi Arabia and advocated for the rights of prisoners in the country with the Saudi Association for Civil and Political Rights, also known as “HASM. “He has participated in multiple demonstrations by Saudi detainees in Riyadh. In March 2013, al-Khalidi fled Saudi Arabia in search of safety, first to Egypt, then to Qatar, and finally to Turkey.
In exile, he continued his activism and worked as an opposition journalist for seven years, writing articles critical of the Saudi government. He was also active in a Saudi online movement created through the late journalist Jamal Khashoggi, called the Bees Army, which sought to counter the government’s pro-Saudi propaganda campaigns and online troll armies.
In the wake of Khashoggi’s killing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, al-Khalidi feared for his protection and did not renew his identity documents, perhaps forcing him to report to the same consulate where Khashoggi murdered. On October 23, 2021, he fled and entered Bulgaria seeking asylum, where he is now in imminent danger of deportation.
Given the scale of torture and due process violations in the Saudi criminal justice system, Bulgaria would be violating the non-refoulement precept by deporting a highly visual critic of the Saudi government, risking persecution for his political views or torture.
Social media posts reviewed by Human Rights Watch show that al-Khalidi has been subjected to a torrent of abuses by influential people connected to the Saudi government. One such article called al-Khalidi a “traitor” and also accused him of “treason. “as a conspiracy to “try to destroy it and sell it to enemies. “Another threatened that “the next few months will be catastrophic. “
Human Rights Watch has criticized widespread abuses of Saudi Arabia’s criminal justice formula, adding long periods of detention without charge or trial, denial of legal assistance, and the courts’ use of confessions tainted by torture as the sole basis for conviction. The defendants’ accusations are so basic and formulated that it is difficult to reconcile the Saudi formula of criminal justice with one based on basic principles of the rule of law and foreign human rights standards. Saudi Arabia applies its uncodified interpretation of Islamic law as national law. In the absence of a written penal code or restrictively drafted regulations, judges and prosecutors can convict others of a wide range of offences under general types, such as “breaking loyalty to the ruler” or “attempting to falsify the reputation of the kingdom”.
Al-Khalidi’s deportation may violate Bulgaria’s external obligations, adding Article 3 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which states that “no State Party shall expel a user or extradite him or her to a State where there is a State where there is a State where there are any States Parties. ” and article 33 of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, which prohibits “the return of a refugee to the borders in any form”. or territories where their life or freedom would be threatened because of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a specific social organization or political opinion. Bulgaria is a signatory to either convention.
“Bulgaria will not forcibly return Abdulrahman al-Khalidi to Saudi Arabia, given the systematic torture, ill-treatment and violations of due process in Saudi Arabia’s corrupt justice system,” Shea said.