On 22 July 2021, Saudi Arabia's Mabahith (Detective Service) arrested the online activist Abdullah bin Awad al-Mubaraki from his home in the city of Yanbu.
Al-Mubaraki's arrest (January 23, 1977) came on the basis of his expression of his opinion, and his participation in social media campaigns to defend the political and civil rights, and his objection to government policies.
The family did not officially know the reason for the arrest and his news has been cut off since the moment of the arrest. Despite the family's attempts to find out where he was, and their check of the prisons of Yanbu, Medina and Jeddah, they were unable to reach him.
According to the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights, and based on Saudi Arabia's approach to individuals expressing their opinion, al-Mubaraki's arrest is due to his exercise of his right of freedom of speech.
ESOHR considers that not disclosing the place of detention officially, and not allowing him to communicate with his family, is a forced concealment. ESOHR points out that according to the monitoring and documentation of previous cases, enforced disappearance may extend from days to years, with all the attendant psychological and physical torture, and violation of fair trial conditions, including the extraction of confessions.
ESOHR confirms that al-Mubaraki's arrest and concealment indicate that other arrests could be made in the wake of recent campaigns, that it was unable to monitor them due to intimidation and repression in Saudi Arabia, and the lack of any role for independent human rights organizations and civil society.
EOSHR stresses that on contrary to promises and official promotion of openness, Saudi Arabia continues to suppress freedom of opinion and expression, and violations, in particular the practice of enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention.