The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) continues to urge the Bulgarian authorities to enforce the multiple court orders to release Saudi human rights defender Abdulrahman Al-Bakr Al-Khalidi and urgently address the serious deterioration of his health.

GCHR learned that the Bulgarian State Agency for National Security (DANS) issued another order on 26 September 2025 to continue his detention. Al-Khalidi sought asylum in Bulgaria in 2021, citing fears for his safety if he was to be deported back to Saudi Arabia. He was a resident in Turkey, and his decision to seek asylum was based on the awareness of an aggressive escalation in targeting dissidents and activists in Turkey and other countries.

The latest decision by the DANS to extend Al-Khalidi’s detention, came in violation of the Administrative Court decision to grant him release from the detention centre in March 2025. Instead of releasing him, Bulgarian authorities promptly transferred him to a deportation centre, with poor living conditions, in what seems like an attempt to prevent his release.

GCHR is still receiving reports on the grave living conditions and health concerns that he is facing, which were investigated by Bulgarian mental health professionals. He is reportedly suicidal and suffering from serious insomnia because of limited access to adequate medications.

Al-Khalidi wrote an op-ed to appeal for proper access of asylum seekers to a fair vetting system that protects their lives and liberties. He noted that such a right is embedded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Refugee Convention. In his article entitled “Bulgaria. Endless detention: 47 months in Busmantsi”, he details the brutal living conditions and lack of access to needed care, in addition to the practice of keeping detainees in legal limbo for years.

He also questioned the system, stating that, “All this [poor conditions and lack of fairness] raises a question about the justice of coercive measures and their ethical and societal costs. Justice often contradicts the law; sometimes they belong to parallel worlds. This is evident in detention camps. This vast disparity in treating people based on identity takes me back to Europe’s history burdened with crises of ‘self and other’ – from camps for Jews and Roma to camps for Europeans themselves after the Spanish ‘La Retirada’ [exodus].”

He concluded, “It is a crime stemming from racism and dehumanisation – and we witness shocking silence from politicians, diplomats, and intellectuals in response.”

The European Parliament has recently published an extensive study outlining the impact of transnational repression on activists seeking asylum or residency in European Union countries. The study noted that the primary targets are human rights defenders whose advocacy is perceived by repressive regimes as threats to their interests and power. It affirms the negative impacts on every level of society, from individual rights to national security and democratic institutions. It also affirms the responsibility of host countries in the EU to ensure the safety of defenders from increasing repression and surveillance.

Recommendations

GCHR renews its calls to Bulgarian authorities to:

1. Immediately address the health concerns of human rights defender Abdulrahman Al-Khalidi and other detained activists in Bulgarian detention centres;
2. Execute the court release order of Al-Khalidi until his case is being fairly processed by the relevant authorities, according to EU laws and conventions;
3. Cooperate with other countries for his safe deportation to a third country.

Take action now

Wherever you are, protest in front of Bulgarian embassies around the world and demand the release of human rights defender Abdulrahman Al-Khalidi from its prisons, and allow him to travel wherever he wants.