Help promote human rights in the Middle East and North Africa

Donate Today
Facebook-f Icon-twitter-x Instagram Linkedin Youtube Envelope
Search
Close this search box.
  • English
  • العربية
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • What We Do
    • Who We Are
    • FAQs
    • Support Dawn
    • Work With Us
    • For the Media
  • Founder Jamal Khashoggi
    • Who Was Jamal Khashoggi?
    • Chronology of a Murder
    • UN Recommendations
    • International Reaction
    • In His Own Words
    • DAWN and Jamal
  • Countries
    • USA
    • Saudi Arabia
    • Egypt
    • UAE
    • Israel-Palestine
    • Jordan
    • DAWN's Culprits Gallery
  • Democracy In Exile
    • About
    • Submission Guidelines for Democracy in Exile
  • Advocacy
    • The Lobbyist Hall of Shame
    • DAWN's Culprits Gallery
    • Reforming Foreign Policy
      • Aid Conditionality
      • Human Rights Go to War
      • China's Uyghur Repression
      • Yemen: Toward Sustainable Peace and Democracy
      • Bridging Restraint and Positive Engagement
    • US Foreign Policy in MENA
    • Joint Advocacy
    • DAWN Foreign Policy Blueprint
  • Experts
  • Latest
Menu
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • What We Do
    • Who We Are
    • FAQs
    • Support Dawn
    • Work With Us
    • For the Media
  • Founder Jamal Khashoggi
    • Who Was Jamal Khashoggi?
    • Chronology of a Murder
    • UN Recommendations
    • International Reaction
    • In His Own Words
    • DAWN and Jamal
  • Countries
    • USA
    • Saudi Arabia
    • Egypt
    • UAE
    • Israel-Palestine
    • Jordan
    • DAWN's Culprits Gallery
  • Democracy In Exile
    • About
    • Submission Guidelines for Democracy in Exile
  • Advocacy
    • The Lobbyist Hall of Shame
    • DAWN's Culprits Gallery
    • Reforming Foreign Policy
      • Aid Conditionality
      • Human Rights Go to War
      • China's Uyghur Repression
      • Yemen: Toward Sustainable Peace and Democracy
      • Bridging Restraint and Positive Engagement
    • US Foreign Policy in MENA
    • Joint Advocacy
    • DAWN Foreign Policy Blueprint
  • Experts
  • Latest
Donate

Saudi Arabia: Judge Abdul Aziz al-Harthy Abuses Due Process, Criminalizes Peaceful Dissent

January 27, 2021
in Culprits, Culprits Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Judge Abdulaziz Al-Harthy of the Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh has presided over trials of peaceful activists, including Muslim scholar and reformer Salman Alodah and others, thus enforcing prima facie unjust laws that criminalize dissent. He has served on the judicial panel hearing Alodah's case since 2018, and he also judges the cases of many other political detainees at the Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh.

"Al-Harthy is using politicized anti-terrorism laws to abuse rights defenders and others deemed a threat to the Saudi government's absolute rule," said Abdullah Alaoudh, Gulf  Director at DAWN and a son of Salman Alodah. Alodah has been jailed since September 2017 for charges that include "expressing cynicism about the government's achievements" and "claiming that the Saudi monarchy monopolizes wealth." Saudi Attorney General Saud al-Mojeb has asked for the death penalty.

For the last decade, judges have used the the Specialized Criminal Court as a venue to suppress speech and dissent by convicting peaceful activists of terrorism-related charges. 

Al-Harthy is personally responsible for serious due process violations during Alodah's trial. At multiple hearings, al-Harthy refused to allow Alodah's lawyer to speak in court. Al-Harthy also interrupted Alodah, asking him not to speak and defend himself. At one hearing, in an unprecedented move, al-Harthy and his colleagues proceeded in hearing Alodah's case in his absence, while Alodah remained in his prison cell. Al-Harthy and his colleagues have repeatedly delayed the trial proceedings and issued multiple postponements without justification, allowing several months to elapse between hearings, despite telling Alodah that they would issue a verdict back in 2019. Alodah's trial began in September 2018, one year after he was arrested and detained.

"No judge should preside over a case in which a defendant faces the death penalty for charges that include common-sense statements like the claim that the Saudi leadership monopolizes wealth," Alaoudh said. "Al-Harthy and his colleagues are part of a cynical dismantling of the Saudi justice system."

Judge Abdulaziz bin Safar al-Adhiani Al-Beniusi al-Harthy was born in Taif City in Saudi Arabia. In 2012, al-Harthy obtained a master's degree from Imam Muhammad bin Saud University, according to records in the King Fahad National Library. In May 2020, al-Harthy obtained a PhD in comparative jurisprudence from the Judicial High Institute, an institute that trains judges in Saudi Arabia.

See the case: Salman Alodah 

DAWN contacted al-Harthy via the Saudi authorities on December 9, 2020 to request a response, but no response was received by the time of publication.

 

Watch the video on Abdulaziz Al-Harthy here:

https://dawnmena.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Video-of-Abdulaziz-bin-Safar-al-Harthy-en.mp4

 

***

Tweet the Saudi Ministry of Justice here and the Saudi Embassy in Washington DC here. Tell them to stop employing abusive judges like al-Harthy. 

About DAWN's culprit gallery:

Tyrants need enablers who will implement their oppressive practices, even if it means abusing their fellow citizens. These agents often mask their complicity in the guise of professionals exercising their duties in offices, courtrooms, police stations, and interrogation rooms.

DAWN seeks to disclose the identity of the state agents who enable repression and, to make them recognizable at home and abroad. These individuals, whom DAWN calls "culprits," bear administrative, civil, moral, legal, and/or political responsibility for human rights and international humanitarian law violations.

Tags: culpritshuman rights abuseshuman rights violationsJudge Abdul Aziz bin Safar al-Adhiani Al-Beniusi al-Harthythe Middle East and North Africa
Previous Post

Saudi Arabia: Judge Abdulazizal-Jaber Sentenced Shiite Child to Death

Next Post

Saudi Arabia: Former Top Prosecutor Muhammed al-Abdullah Jailed Democracy Activists

Related Posts

People stand next to the the Saudi pavilion (vision 2030) at the Gitex 2018 exhibition at the Dubai World Trade Center in Dubai on October 16, 2018 - Gitex ("Gulf Information Technology Exhibition") is a consumer computer and electronics trade show. (Photo by KARIM SAHIB / AFP)        (Photo credit should read KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)
DAWN

Saudi Arabia Should Not Host World Expo Due to 'Appalling Human Rights Situation,' Say 15 Rights Groups

Member States in the Bureau International des Expositions (BiE) should vote against Saudi Arabia’s candidacy to host the World...

admin-dawn
November 22, 2023
Democracy In Exile

50 Years Ago, Saudi Arabia Was the Big Winner of the Yom Kippur War. The U.S. Is Still Paying the Price.

The 1973 Arab-Israeli war transformed the Middle East and the global energy market, benefiting Saudi Arabia most of all.

Bruce Riedel
October 6, 2023
DAWN

U.S.: Journalists, Civil Society Leaders Join Commemoration Dinner Honoring Life and Legacy of Jamal Khashoggi

(Washington DC, October 5, 2023): Over 170 leading journalists, civil society leaders, and elected officials commemorated the life and...

DAWN
October 5, 2023
ISTANBUL, TURKEY - OCTOBER 25:  Candles are seen in front of posters of Jamal Khashoggi during a candle light vigil held to remember journalist Jamal Khashoggi outside the Saudi Arabia consulate on October 25, 2018 in Istanbul, Turkey. Jamal Khashoggi, a U.S. resident and critic of the Saudi regime, went missing after entering the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on October 2. More than two weeks later Riyadh announced he had been killed accidentally during an altercation with Saudi consulate officials, however as investigations continue new information surfaced, pointing to a brutal and planned murder contradicting previous claims.  (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
DAWN

US Congress: Pass the Khashoggi Act and Khashoggi Resolution

Khashoggi Act Would Sanction Transnational Repression, Allow Lawsuits Against Government Perpetrators October 2, 2023 (Washington, DC) – Members of...

DAWN
October 2, 2023
Next Post

Saudi Arabia: Former Top Prosecutor Muhammed al-Abdullah Jailed Democracy Activists

Biden Should Heed the State Department's Dissent Over Gaza

November 30, 2023

How a Foreign Policy of 'Restraint-Plus' Can Advance Human Rights

November 28, 2023
GAZA CITY, GAZA - NOVEMBER 19: Palestinians in central and northern parts of the Gaza migrate to the southern parts of Gaza, passing through Israeli soldiers and tanks as the Israeli attacks continue in Gaza City, Gaza on November 19, 2023. (Photo by Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Qatar, Egypt, and USA Urged to Halt Forced Displacement and Prevent Mass Deportation from Gaza

November 28, 2023

Categories

  • Advocacy
  • Aid Conditionality
  • Anonymous Interviews
  • Anonymous Interviews Egypt
  • Anonymous Interviews Saudi Arabia
  • Anonymous Interviews UAE
  • Bridging Restraint
  • Cases
  • Cases Egypt
  • Cases Saudi Arabia
  • Cases UAE
  • China's Uyghur Repression
  • Countries
  • Culprits
  • Culprits Egypt
  • Culprits Israel
  • Culprits Saudi Arabia
  • Culprits UAE
  • DAWN
  • DAWN Foreign Policy Blueprint
  • Dawn's Advocacy
  • Democracy In Exile
  • Editor's Pick
  • Egypt
  • Feature
  • Fellows
  • Foreign Policy
  • Human Rights
  • Human Rights Go to War
  • International Actors
  • Israel-Palestine
  • Joint Letters
  • Jordan
  • Lobbyists
  • Lobbyists Israel Palestine
  • Palestine
  • Political prisoners
  • Press Release Egypt
  • Press Release Israel-Palestine
  • Press Release Jordan
  • Press Release Saudi Arabia
  • Press Release UAE
  • Press Releases
  • Saudi Arabia
  • UAE
  • Uncategorized
  • United Nations
  • US – Egypt
  • US – Saudi Arabia
  • US – UAE
  • USA
  • Yemen Conference

SUPPORT OUR MISSION

Donate Today

Help DAWN protect the lives and rights of Palestinians in Gaza.

We’re fighting for a ceasefire and accountability for Israeli and U.S. officials responsible for war crimes in Gaza.

DONATE NOW

About Us

Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) is a nonprofit organization that promotes democracy, the rule of law, and human rights for all of the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Support Us

Donate Now

Newsletter

Facebook Icon-twitter-x Instagram Linkedin Youtube

© DAWN All rights reserved. | Website Design by KRS Creative.

Help DAWN protect the lives and rights of Palestinians in Gaza.

We’re fighting for a ceasefire and accountability for Israeli and U.S. officials responsible for war crimes in Gaza.
DONATE NOW