Waleed Abu al-Khair to be awarded Ludovic Trarieux prize
Saudi Arabia
On 12 June, the jury of the Ludovic Trarieux human rights prize announced that this year’s laureate is Waleed Abu al-Khair from Saudi Arabia, who is currently serving a prison sentence of fifteen years. Waleed Abu al-Khair is a prominent human rights lawyer and the head of the Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia. He also was the lawyer of blogger Raif Badawi, who is imprisoned as well.
On February 15, 2015, the Specialized Criminal Court of Appeal in Riyadh confirmed a sentence of fifteen years in prison, a travel ban of equal duration following imprisonment and a fine of SR 200.000,- (approximately EUR 47.000,-). The charges against him were “striving to overthrow the state and the authority of the King”, “criticising and insulting the judiciary”, “assembling international organisations against the Kingdom”, “creating and supervising an unlicensed organisation”, “contributing to the establishment of another” and “preparing and storing information that will affect public security”.
The prize is an initiative of the Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA) and the European Bar Human Rights Institute (IDHAE) and several European national and local bar associations and will be awarded in November.