Between 2011 and 2013, Saudi law student Abdulrahman al-Khalidi was a political activist and a known dissident. He was active in the field of human rights, advocating for democratic reforms and participating in several civil society campaigns with prominent Saudi figures such as Omar Abdulaziz al-Zahrani and Jamal Khashoggi. Following a campaign of mass arrests undertaken by the Saudi authorities against his immediate surroundings in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, he decided to flee the country and seek refuge abroad. Following his stays in Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, he decided to head to the European Union in 2021 with the intention of applying for asylum.
Shortly after crossing the Turkish-Bulgarian border on October 23, 2021, he was arrested in Bulgaria for entering without a visa authorisation. He is currently detained in Busmantsi Detention Centre, near Sofia’s International Airport.
On November 16 2021, he applied for asylum, but his request was denied by the Bulgarian Refugee State Agency.The Agency claimed that “official authorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have taken” “measures to democratise society” and considered that “the personal motives he referred to for his desire to live in the Republic of Bulgaria cannot be evaluated as humanitarian.” He challenged the refusal of his asylum application by appealing to the Administrative Court in Sofia.
On February 20, 2023, the Administrative Court in Sofia rejected the appeal and upheld the decision of the Agency. The Administrative Court considered that the Bulgarian Refugee State Agency correctly assessed that al-Khalidi had no well-founded fear of persecution and he did not belong to any group that is at risk of persecution in Saudi Arabia.
On September 27, 2023, the Administrative Supreme court rendered its judgment, and decided to annul any lower decision and send it back to the lower courts to be retried because of procedural vices and errors, namely the fact that there was no translation available into Arabic and that he was wrongfully considered to be Syrian.
On December 12, 2023, his case on his request for asylum was heard again before the lower administrative court of Sofia-City. The Court decided to send his case back to the State Refugee Agency for reconsideration.
Al-Khalidi stood a hearing before the Administrative Court in Sofia on January 18, 2024 regarding his detention. The decision was rendered very quickly the day after, and his release was ordered.
However, on January 22, 2024, an administrative decision was issued by the National State Security Agency in which his release was denied. The grounds for refusal were not substantiated.
On January 26, 2024, the administrative court refused his release order.
On Feburary 7, 2024, al-Khalidi was visited by an investigator from the National State Security Agency and handed an untranslated decision for his immediate deportation. The decision is reportedly issued by the National Security State Agency.
On April 25, 2024, the Supreme Administrative Court overturned the decision not to grant him asylum and sent his case back to the Refugee Agency for reconsideration. It considered that the objection of the National State Security Agency to his asylum claim was unrealistic and not based on facts.
Despite the Supreme Administrative Court’s finding in favour of granting him asylum, the State Refugee Agency denied his claim once again on June 28, 2024.
Al-Khalidi remains detained and at risk of deportation. Should he be sent back to Saudi Arabia, he could be subjected to torture, ill-treatment, and even the death penalty for his past activism.
