Saudi Economist Released from Prison | Support for Mohammad Fahad al-Qahtani
Human Rights Casework
Last update January 9, 2025
We are delighted to share the news that Saudi economist Dr. Mohammad Fahad Muflih al-Qahtani was released from prison on January 7, 2025. Dr. al-Qahtani was unjustly convicted in 2013 and sentenced to 10 years in prison—to be followed by a 10-year travel ban—on charges related to his peaceful human rights activities. Although Dr. al-Qahtani’s sentence formally ended in November 2022, he was forcibly disappeared by Saudi authorities until November 2024, when he was able to resume contact with his family. At the time of his arrest in 2013, Dr. al-Qahtani—who earned his Ph.D. in economics from Indiana University—was a professor of economics at the Saudi Foreign Ministry’s Institute of Diplomatic Studies and co-founder of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), an organization that worked to promote and protect human rights and to advocate for reforms in the country.
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