Saudi Arabia temporarily releases two US-Saudi political prisoners
Dual citizens Salah al-Haidar and Bader al-Ibrahim still face trial on terror-related charges.
Saudi Arabia has temporarily released two US-Saudi nationals held as political prisoners since 2019 amid growing international pressure over the kingdom’s human rights record.
Journalist Salah al-Haidar and Bader al-Ibrahim, an epidemiologist and writer, left Saudi custody on Thursday pending trial at Saudi Arabia’s specialized court for terrorism cases.
Al-Haider and al-Ibrahim had remained in pretrial detention since they and 10 other journalists were arrested in April 2019 in what was seen as a crackdown on dissent. Al-Haidar’s mother, Aziza al-Yousef, is a well-known women’s rights defender who was also arrested for her activism along with other right-to-drive campaigners in May 2018.
The Freedom Initiative, a Washington-based advocacy group, called their release a welcome but long overdue step.
