In February 2023, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued an opinion finding that the ongoing detention of Mr Abdelrhman Mohammed Farhanah – a journalist for the newspaper Al-Sabeel and for Al-Jazeera who was living and working in Saudi Arabia before his arrest - is arbitrary and irretrievably marred by serious human rights violations.  The WGAD’s decision was recently made public and recommended Mr Farhanah’s release.

Ms Dijkstal was instructed as Mr Farhanah’s international counsel before the WGAD after he was arrested in February 2019.  Mr Farhanah was arrested along with over 60 other individuals of Palestinian nationality and descent living and working in Saudi Arabia who were arrested and tried in-mass in 2019 as part of a campaign which targeted Palestinians on a discriminatory basis. Ms Dijkstal also represented two other individuals within this group before the WGAD – Dr Mohammed Al Khoudary and his son, Dr Hani Al Khoudary – who were also similarly arbitrarily detained, and for which Ms Dijkstal secured a finding before the WGAD of arbitrary detention and for immediate release in October 2021; with Dr Mohammed Al Khoudary being successful released in October 2022.

The determination made during the Working Group’s 95th Session as to Mr Farhanah’s detention found that:

• the “deprivation of liberty of Mr. Farhanah … is arbitrary”, and 
• the “appropriate remedy would be to release Mr. Farhanah and accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations.”

The Working Group found that his continued detention of over 4 years meets the criteria for being characterised as arbitrary and unlawful for three reasons:

1. Mr Farhanah’s detention was found to fall under ‘Category I’ for finding arbitrary detention - that there was no legal basis to justify his arrest and detention.  This included a finding that “Mr. Farhanah was initially detained in circumstances that amount to enforced disappearance.”
2. Mr Farhanah’s detention was found to fall under ‘Category III’ for finding arbitrary detention - that the “the detention of Mr. Farhanah was characterised by multiple fair trial rights violations of such gravity as to render his detention arbitrary.”  Here, the Working Group found that “the conditions of detention of Mr. Farhanah significantly undermined his ability to defend himself properly”, given that “Mr. Farhanah was subjected to abusive and coercive interrogations during his detention, in particular during the time he was held in solitary and incommunicado detention”; with particular concern that “Mr. Farhanah is still being subjected to deplorable detention conditions and continues to be harassed by prison staff, who threaten him with a return to solitary confinement and further physical torture.”
3. Mr Farhanah’s detention was found to fall under ‘Category V’ for finding arbitrary detention - that “Mr. Farhanah was deprived of his liberty on discriminatory grounds, based on his national origin as Palestinian.”

The Working Group also voiced concern about systematic arbitrary detention in Saudi Arabia, of which the detentions of Mr Farhanah, the Al Khoudarys and the other Palestinians detained were a part.  To this, the Working Group stated concern that it “has found Saudi Arabia in violation of its international human rights obligations in over 70 cases” which “indicates a systemic problem with arbitrary detention in Saudi Arabia, which amounts to a serious violation of international law.”  In light of this, the Working Group warned Saudi Arabia that “under certain circumstances, widespread or systematic imprisonment or other severe deprivation of liberty in violation of the rules of international law may constitute crimes against humanity.”

The Working Group’s determination can be found here.

Media coverage of the decision can be found here.