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In a collective appeal, various human rights organisations, including FIDH and OMCT within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, urge Saudi Arabia’s authorities to lift the unlawful travel ban placed on prominent women’s rights defender Loujain al-Hathloul and her family. Despite a court-ordered ban expiring six months ago, she continues to be subject to arbitrary travel restrictions.
The
undersigned organisations call on Saudi Arabia’s authorities to
immediately lift the illegal travel ban imposed on woman human rights
defender Loujain al-Hathloul. A court-imposed ban on
her travelling abroad expired six months ago today, but since then she
has been under an arbitrary travel ban with no expiry date, in violation
of both international human rights law and the kingdom’s own
legislation.
Al-Hathloul, one of Saudi Arabia’s most celebrated advocates for
women’s rights, was arrested, tortured and imprisoned for over 1,000
days for her human rights activism before being conditionally released
from prison on February 10, 2021. Her sentence imposed heavy
restrictions following her release, including a period of probation and a
travel ban lasting two years and ten months, ending on November 13,
2023. However, when she attempted to travel abroad in February 2024,
al-Hathloul was told at the border that she remained under a permanent
travel ban.
Many prisoners of conscience in Saudi Arabia who have been
conditionally released in recent years continue to face harsh
restrictions, including lengthy travel bans. These are often applied in
advance as part of their judicial sentence, usually for the same
additional length of time as the prison term itself. This is already in
contravention of Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, which states that “[e]veryone has the right to leave any
country, including his own, and to return to his country”. However, the
authorities also impose “unofficial” travel bans without any
notification of a legal justification, judicial ruling or official
decision behind them. The affected individuals, like al-Hathloul, often
first learn of them only when attempting to leave the kingdom, whether
by air or by crossing a land border. Since these bans are unofficial and
lack any legal basis, there is no way to formally appeal against them
or apply to have them lifted.
Travel bans have serious consequences
for the victims’ lives, preventing them from pursuing personal and
professional goals abroad, accessing specialist healthcare, or visiting
family members outside the country. This in turn can have a profound
impact on the mental and emotional well-being of both the individuals
directly affected and their families.
The Saudi authorities have also been making repeated and increasing
use of arbitrary travel bans on family members of activists, including
the rest of the al-Hathloul family in Saudi Arabia, apparently as a form
of collective punishment but also to further deter individuals from
engaging in human rights work, for the sake of not only their own safety
but also that of their relatives. Appeals
to the official Saudi Human Rights Commission (SHRC) from Saudi
nationals living abroad to help lift arbitrary travel bans on their
relatives inside the kingdom have repeatedly fallen on deaf ears.
Arbitrary travel bans are in direct contravention of international
law, and are a blatant violation of the right to freedom of movement
enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 13) and the Arab Charter on Human Rights
(Article 21). They are also in violation of Saudi Arabia’s own legal
framework, according to which no person may be barred from travelling
except by a judicial ruling or a decision issued by the Minister of
Interior or the President of State Security, and then only for specific
security-related reasons (typically for cases relating to financial
crimes, child custody or ongoing criminal investigations) and for a
specific period of time.
ALQST’s Head of Monitoring and Advocacy Lina al-Hathloul comments: “Former
prisoners who, like my sister Loujain, have been released but remain
barred from travelling are not yet free but are still prisoners inside
Saudi Arabia – and to prevent our relatives from travelling, with
absolutely no justification, is both illegal and unpardonably cruel.”
We urge the Saudi authorities to immediately stop this unlawful
practice and to lift the unofficial travel bans imposed arbitrarily on
Loujain al-Hathloul, her family and other family members of activists,
as well as all the travel bans that have been imposed by the courts on
both current and former prisoners of conscience. The authorities must
respect and protect the internationally recognised right to freedom of
movement.
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