Met 356 executies in een jaar vestigt Saudi-Arabië een triest record.
Sinds mensenrechtenorganisatie Human Rights Watch de executies in het land begon te registreren, werden er nooit méér geteld.
@joeysheart.bsky.social spreekt namens @hrw.org van een "huiveringwekkende trend".
🚩Yesterday Saudi authorities executed Abdullah al-Derazi for alleged crimes committed as a child.
Saudi authorities reached two horrific milestones: the 300th execution of 2025 & the 2nd execution of a person accused of committing crimes as a child. @hrw.org
www.hrw.org/news/2025/10...
🚩On @jimmykimmellive.bsky.social, Aziz Ansari said he would donate part of his Riyadh Comedy Fest fee to @hrw.org
While HRW cannot accept the donation, it's not too late for him to call for the release of detained Saudi activists Manahel al Otaibi & Waleed Abu al Khair
www.hrw.org/news/2025/10...
"This whitewashing comes amid significant increase in repression... including a crackdown on free speech, which many of these comedians defend but people in Saudi Arabia are completely denied.”
- @joeyshea.bsky.social
“Instead of using Alaa Abdel Fattah’s release as an opportunity to correct course, Egyptian authorities arbitrarily detained journalist Ismail Iskandarani after a lengthy Orwellian questioning over his Facebook posts.”
New from @hrw.org / @amrmagdi.bsky.social ⤵️
Migrant workers are the backbone of Saudi Arabia’s renewable energy projects.
But our new research shows they are being exploited and dehumanised in the very industry that should symbolise a sustainable future.
Read the full report ➡️ www.business-humanrights.org/en/from-us/b...
"Terwijl internationale comedians worden uitgenodigd die zich regelmatig uitspreken over het belang van vrijheid van meningsuiting, lopen Saudiërs die hetzelfde doen het risico gevangengezet of geëxecuteerd te worden, zegt HRW."
Tim Dillon was scheduled to perform but said he was fired after he joked on his podcast about Saudi Arabia’s poor human rights record.
“I am doing this because they are paying me a large sum of money,” Dillon said. “They are paying me enough money to look the other way.”
🚩Saudi govt is using the Riyadh Comedy Fest to deflect attention from its brutal repression
The festival takes place on the 7th anniversary of Khashoggi's murder
Lineup includes: Jimmy Carr, Pete Davidson and others
@mazjobrani.bsky.social
@sammorril.bsky.social
www.hrw.org/news/2025/09...
Saudi authorities had executed at least 241 people in 2025 as of August 5, with 22 executions in the last week alone, according to Reprieve. Reprieve reported that the number of executions in 2025 would exceed all prior records if executions continue at the same rate.
Rampant due process violations and systemic abuses against defendants in Saudi Arabia’s courts and criminal justice system make it highly unlikely that any of those executed in 2025 received a fair trial.
Saudi authorities executed 241 ppl in 2025: an unprecedented surge without due process
The execution of Turki al-Jasser, a journalist who exposed corruption, raises concerns the Saudi govt is using the death penalty to crush peaceful dissent
@aalodah.bsky.social @hrw.org
www.hrw.org/news/2025/08...
GCC countries are exposing migrant workers to yet another deadly summer of extreme heat conditions without adequate protection.
Migrant workers are unnecessarily dying, experiencing kidney failure, and suffering from other chronic illnesses.
www.hrw.org/news/2025/06...
Saudi authorities, FIFA, and other employers should ensure that all migrant worker deaths, regardless of perceived cause, time, and place are properly investigated and families of deceased workers are treated with dignity, and receive fair and timely compensation.
Saudi authorities have failed to adequately protect workers from preventable deaths, investigate workplace safety incidents, and ensure timely and adequate compensation for families, including through mandatory life insurance policies and survivors’ benefits.
🚩NEW: @hrw.org finds scores of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia died in gruesome yet avoidable workplace accidents like falling from buildings, electrocution& decapitation
Deaths are erroneously classified as “natural”&are neither investigated nor compensated
www.hrw.org/news/2025/05...
“The UAE government rejects the existence of political opposition or any opinion that contradicts its policies, so it seeks to silence all voices,” said one individual.
The move represents an escalation of the UAE's transnational repression, targeting not only dissidents but also their family members.
HRW searched for the individuals & companies on global terror and financial sanctions lists, inclg the UN Global Sanctions list, the European Union Sanctions list & the Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets in the UK.
None of them are included in these lists.
HRW found that all 8 companies are solely registered in the UK & are owned or previously owned by exiled Emirati dissidents/their relatives
The authorities did not inform them prior to the designation, nor was there any opportunity to respond or contest the allegations.
Only 2 of the 11 have been convicted or accused of a terrorist offense though both under questionable circumstances: One was convicted in absentia as part of the grossly unfair UAE94 mass trial of dissidents in 2013. The other was accused in a separate case related the UAE94 case
🚩NEW: UAE authorities have designated as “terrorist” 11 political dissidents & relatives as well as 8 companies they own, reflecting the UAE’s indiscriminate use of overbroad counterterrorism laws and contempt for due process.
See our new report here:
www.hrw.org/news/2025/04...
20 human rights groups, including @hrw.org , call on Bulgarian authorities to suspend plans to deport Saudi HRD Abdulrahman al-Khalidi to Saudi Arabia.
Bulgarian authorities would violate the Bulgarian, European& international law obligation of nonrefoulement.
www.hrw.org/news/2025/03...
With talk in Europe now of rearmament and the need for new security structures, it's vital European leaders and institutions keep human rights at the centre of their efforts. Democracy depends on it. My new piece for @hrw.org
www.hrw.org/news/2025/03...
Earlier this week an Emirati court upheld an abusive 15-year sentence against prominent Emirati human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor.
The UAE continues to target a man who courageously stood up to his abusive govt even when very few would dare.
www.hrw.org/news/2025/03...
None of the detainees were present, and only one of the defendants’ lawyers was able to attend the session.
Little is known about the conditions for the 53 defendants because most are denied visits and calls from family member
Given that the charges are based solely on defendants’ peaceful practice of their human rights and that the convictions were based on a fundamentally unfair trial, Emirati authorities should immediately overturn the convictions and release all defendants
🚩NEW: Yesterday a UAE court rejected all appeals by those convicted in the UAE84 unfair mass trial, upholding the unfair convictions & abusive sentences of 53 HRDs & political dissidents.
The decision reveals the travesty of the UAE’s justice system.
www.hrw.org/news/2025/03...
With the #Omnibus published, the Commission sides with giant corporations rather than victims of corporate abuse.
Under the pretense of ‘simplification’, the Commission’s guts its own achievements on corporate accountability & abdicates principled leadership in advancing a #sustainable economy.
🚩Trump delivered a keynote address at the Saudi PIF-backed investment summit in Miami, an investment conference used to whitewash Saudi's rights record.
PIF investments are a tool of KSA’s influence& help to build uncritical support for MBS’ agenda.
www.hrw.org/news/2025/02...
