Saudi Arabia continues to hold British citizen without charge

A British citizen has been detained by the Saudi Arabian authorities since 31 August last year without charge, his lawyers have revealed. Ahmed Ali Al-Doush, a 41-year-old senior business analyst with Bank of America, was detained at the airport in Riyadh on his return journey to the UK after a family visit to Saudi Arabia, his legal team from 33 Bedford Row Chambers have explained in a press release.

When stopped at passport control, Al-Doush sent his wife and children on ahead. They boarded the aircraft but he did not. Inquiries with airport security and the police in Saudi Arabia were met by answers that neither authority knew of his whereabouts. To the family, it seemed he had been forcibly disappeared. “For the next 2.5 months, his family were prevented any communication with him or any information on his situation or reason for arrest, leaving his pregnant wife and small children in the dark about his well-being and status,” said his lawyers.

His family and legal team insist that Al-Doush is a private citizen focused on his professional career and family responsibilities in the UK and has never been a political or human rights activist. To date, he has never been presented with any reason for his detention nor any charges to justify his continued detention.

He has, apparently, been interrogated about a tweet on his Twitter/X account with 37 followers on the situation in Sudan (not Saudi Arabia) and about whether he is associated with a Saudi critic living in exile in the UK, with whom he does not have a relationship and does not associate. “This has raised concerns about his detention being based on the right to free expression and association, which is an impermissible basis for detention under international law,” say his lawyers.

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Following advice not to make Al-Doush’s case public, the family hesitated to do so in the hope that he would be swiftly released and returned home to the United Kingdom. However, after more than four months with still no information on why he is being held by Saudi Arabia and no charges against him, and with minimal steps taken by the UK government to support him or his family, the family have decided that there is no other option but to speak publicly about his ongoing and unchanging situation.

On 16 December 2024, a complaint was submitted to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention which said that the fundamental rights of Al-Doush to a fair trial and to the right to free expression and association have been violated.

“The complaint asked the Working Group to find that Al-Doush’s detention is arbitrary’ under international law because his detention is based on the exercise of a right or freedom guaranteed under international law; namely the right to free expression in this case; and there are serious violations of his right to a fair trial and due process of such gravity that it gives his detention an arbitrary character,” said his lawyers.

The complaint also looked to information of serious violations of his fair trial and due process rights to assert that it makes his detention arbitrary, including failure to provide the location of the Al-Doush’s detention; failure to provide the reasons for his arrest at the time of arrest; continued detention without charge; prolonged solitary confinement for approximately four months; restriction of any communication with family or friends for 2.5 months; restriction on any consular access for 2.5 months; failure to provide any legal representation; interrogations without legal representation; and lack of access to an independent and impartial tribunal, or the opportunity to challenge the circumstances of his detention in court before a judge.

“Fundamental fair trial and due process rights are critical to protecting the rights, security and wellbeing of individuals in state custody, as well as the rights of family members. This should be recognised and respected by all states,” said barrister Haydee Dijkstal of 33 Bedford Row Chambers, London, and International Counsel instructed on behalf of Ahmed Ali Al-Doush. “British nationals detained abroad, and their families, should feel that their Government is on their side and deserve active support, communication and cooperation during an experience that is already immeasurably difficult.”

Fellow barrister Simon Ridding from the same Chambers pointed out that the purpose of human rights protections under international law is to prohibit and prevent the harm and suffering which Al-Doush and his family have experienced for over four months. “The failure to provide any information about the reasons for his arrest and continued detention, and periods of incommunicado detention whereby the family feared that he had been forcibly disappeared, dramatically increases the mental and emotional impact of a loved one being detained.”

Calling on the UK government to act in this case, Al-Doush’s wife, Amaher Nour, noted that her husband was taken from her and her children without warning or explanation. “His absence has been deeply distressing to me and my children. Our fourth child arrived only about a week ago and Ahmed wasn’t able to be there, I couldn’t even speak to him on the phone. My children and I just want him home as soon as possible, and seek the active support and help of the UK government to protect his rights.”

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