The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) reiterates its call for the release of ten Egyptian Nubian citizens in Saudi Arabia on the fifth anniversary of their arbitrary detention.

On 02 February 2023, the Specialised Criminal Court of Appeal upheld the initial prison sentences issued against them by the Specialised Criminal Court.

On 10 October 2022, after an unfair trial that lacked minimum international standards of fair trial and due process, the Specialised Criminal Court handed down heavy prison sentences against ten Egyptian Nubian citizens who have been detained since their arrest in July 2020 after they tried to organise a symposium in Saudi Arabia. The sentences issued were as follows:

1. Mohammed Fathallah Jumaa Shater, 42 years, member of the Dahmit Nubian Village Association in Riyadh. He is an IT engineer. Sentenced to 18 years in prison.
2. Dr. Farajallah Ahmed Yousif, 69 years, former head of the Nubian community in Riyadh. Sentenced to 16 years in prison.
3. Hashim Shater, member of the Dahmit Nubian Village Association in Riyadh. Sentenced to 16 years in prison.
4. Adel Sayed Ibrahim Fakir, 69 years, current head of the Nubian community in Riyadh, who is from the village of Ballana in southern Egypt. He is an accountant. Sentenced to 14 years in prison.

As for the remaining six citizens whose names are listed below, they were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 to 12 years:

1. Jamal Abdullah Masri, head of the Dahmit Nubian Village Association in Riyadh.
2. Ali Jumaa Ali Bahr, 42 years, member of the Dahmit Nubian Village Association in Riyadh.
3. Saleh Jumaa Ahmed, member of the Dahmit Nubian Village Association in Riyadh.
4. Abdulsalam Juma Ali, member of the Dahmit Nubian Village Association in Riyadh.
5. Abdullah Jumaa Ali Bahr, 48 years, President of the Dahmit Nubian Village Association in Riyadh.
6. Wael Ahmed Hassan, 59 years, head of the Thomas Nubian Village Association in Riyadh.

They were arrested after attempting to organise a public symposium in October 2019 and held for two months before being freed, and then arrested again on 14 July 2020. The Egyptian government supported the actions of the Saudi authorities. The charges brought against them include the following: supporting a banned political group (the Muslim Brotherhood), spreading false and malicious rumours on social media, especially Facebook, violating the law by establishing an unlicensed association, and initiating an assembly without a license.

For more information on their case, see here.

Take Action Now!

The families of the ten detained citizens are calling on everyone to participate in a blogging campaign in solidarity with them on social media, which will launch on 15 July 2025, between 8 pm and midnight Cairo time, and to write using the hashtags:

#The_Suffering_Continues

#Pardon_for_Ten_Egyptians_Nubian

#Five_Years_Is_Enough

Recommendations

GCHR condemns in the strongest terms the arbitrary arrest and detention, unfair trial, and arbitrary sentences issued against the ten innocent Egyptian citizens, in violation of their rights to freedom of assembly and association. GCHR once again calls on the Saudi government to immediately and unconditionally release the ten Nubian citizens, quash all sentences, and drop all fabricated charges against them.