Atallah al-Huwaiti was arrested on January 4, 2021, after handing himself over to the Mabahith office in Jeddah, after seeing the news of members of the al-Huwaitat tribe being considered as “terrorists” by the authorities. Since 2017, 47 members of the al-Huwaitat tribe have been arrested and detained. He had also recorded a video on social media in which he was calling on international organisations to support the al-Huwaitat tribe and prevent their forced displacement. Following his arrest, he was transferred to the GID prison in Tibuk and then to al-Tarrfiyyah prison in al-Qasim. During this period, he was held in solitary confinement and was subjected to brutal acts of torture as a way of coercing him to confess that he and other members of the al-Huwaitat tribe had established a terrorist cell.
Similarly to Shadly and Ibrahim al-Huwaiti, he was sentenced to death by the SCC on August 5, 2022, which was then upheld by the Specialised Criminal Court of Appeal on January 23, 2023.
On March 16, 2023, MENA Rights Group and ALQST for Human Rights requested the urgent intervention of several UN Special Procedures mandate holders, including the Special Rapporteurs on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions and on the right to adequate housing. More specifically, we requested them to urge Saudi Arabia to repeal al-Huwaiti’s death sentence.
