The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) is following with a great concern the dire development of the case of Saudi human rights defender Abdulrahman Al-Khalidi in Bulgaria. 

In 2021, Al-Khalidi filed for asylum in Bulgaria after leaving Turkey where he resided for a few years. He cited fear for his safety if he attempted to renew his passport in the Saudi Consulate in Turkey, after the killing of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi operatives in 2018. 

He was later detained by the Bulgarian authorities while his asylum case is being reviewed. In February 2024, Bulgaria’s National Security Agency issued an expulsion order against him. In October 2024, Sofia Administrative Court upheld previous court decisions ordering his deportation to Saudi Arabia.

Al-Khalidi has filed an appeal and awaits the court’s decision. On 26 March 2025, Sofia Administrative Court issued a non-appealable decision ordering his release from the detention centre. However, Bulgarian authorities promptly transferred him to a deportation centre on the same day, likely to avoid executing the court’s decision to release him. 

The case has raised resentment from civil society in Bulgaria and globally, considering the evident risk facing Al-Khalidi if he is deported back to Saudi Arabia. Twenty human rights organisations including GCHR have called on the Bulgarian authorities to halt his imminent deportation and facilitate his resettlement to a third country. European and Bulgarian activists have staged a sit-in in front of the Bulgarian deportation center to block his deportation (photos above).

In the deportation centre, Al-Khalidi has experienced deteriorating health because of the poor conditions in the facility. This is in addition to previous reports of being subjected to beating and to deteriorating mental health in his previous detention. In a psychiatric evaluation filed by a doctor who examined Al-Khalidi for the second time in February 2025, the physician described his condition as progressively worsening. The report described deepening depressive symptoms and suicide ideation, among other symptoms, as directly linked to his detention in the unhealthy environment of the “Special Home for Temporary Accommodation of Foreigners” in the Village of Busmantsi. 

On 14 May 2025, he was also examined by a physician for complaints of pain in his spine due to poor sleeping conditions at the deportation facility. The report found that he has an ailment to the spine and recommended physical therapy, which he didn’t receive to date; nor has his request to be transferred to the medical facility of the deportation centre been granted. 

Al-Khalidi’s deportation would violate Article 3 of the International Convention against torture and other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights. This is particularly concerning since a Saudi representative was seen at one of Al-Khalidi’s interrogation sessions with the Bulgarian authorities. 

GCHR is urgently requesting authorities in Bulgaria and elsewhere to stop his deportation to Saudi Arabia for the apparent risk to his safety and wellbeing. According to Bulgarian authorities, the case of Al-Khalidi has been processed through several legal avenues and he has been granted release and a chance for asylum according to law, although his release has not been granted to date. We urge the Bulgarian authorities to respect the rule of law, and to protect the right of Al-Khalidi to be safely released from detention, and to be released to go to a safe and protected place, including third countries other than Saudi Arabia. 

Recommendations

GCHR urges the authorities in Bulgaria to:

1. Immediately address the health condition of Al-Khalidi and provide him with proper living condition and access to needed care according to his health needs; and
2. Execute the release decision of the Court from the deportation center until his asylum case is processed and to facilitate his transfer to a third, safe country.

GCHR calls on European countries to expedite a humanitarian visa to Al-Khalidi to help prevent his imminent deportation.