The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) is joining forces with several civil society organisations across the globe in urging the Bulgarian authorities to stop the forced deportation of the Saudi activist, Abdulrahman Al-Khalidi to Saudi Arabia.
GCHR has been following the case of Al-Khalidi since he requested asylum in Bulgaria in October 2021. He left Saudi Arabia in 2013 to Turkey, to avoid arrests by the Saudi authorities for his support of civil and political rights. Eight years later, he arrived to Bulgaria to seek asylum but was arrested two days later. His asylum request was rejected by the Administrative Court in Sofia on 20 February 2023.
On appeal, his case has been reviewed and the court annulled the earlier rejection of asylum in January 2024 and sent his case to the State Agency for Refugees for consideration. The court has also ordered his immediate release from detention, but the order has never been implemented. In October 2024, a final decision by the Bulgarian Administrative Court imposed his final expulsion and banning his entry and residence on the territory of EU member States on the basis of Article 46 (2) (3) of the Aliens in Bulgaria Act.
GCHR has communicated with Al-Khalidi in his detention centre, and he informed us that he is subject to a forced deportation order, based on a decision by the National Security Agency, despite his asylum case being under review by the Refugees Agency. He also informed us that during his early imprisonment in 2021, he was taken to an interrogation facility, in which he spotted a Saudi national with an interpreter, who were probably there to covertly observe his interrogation by the Bulgarian authorities.
It’s of serious concern for GCHR that Bulgaria is not meeting its human rights obligations as he told GCHR that the Bulgarian officer at the facility explained to him from the get-go that his case will not be reviewed for asylum and that he will be deported back to Saudi Arabia based on the National Security decision.
In his years of detention at Sophia Busmantsi Detention Centre, he suffered greatly from poor living and hygiene conditions, brutal beatings by officers, and other ill-treatment. His imminent risk of forced deportation to Saudi Arabia by the Bulgarian authorities is dangerous as Saudi Arabia is well-known for serious human rights violations against political activists and human rights defenders.
The case of Al-Khalidi is particularly serious as he was directly involved in activism with the late journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed and dismembered by Saudi operatives, close to Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. He believes that his connection to political and human rights activists abroad may be the cause of the Saudi involvement in his deportation from Bulgaria.
Several joint actions and protests by civil society organizations and activists have been ongoing to stop his deportation to Saudi Arabia, and he currently is in pursuit of a humanitarian visa from a safe country to leave Bulgaria and to stop his deportation. It’s worth noting that the Bulgarian authorities have a track record of deporting individuals at risk back to their countries, despite having their asylum case still in review.
Recommendations
The Gulf Centre for Human Rights calls for:
- The Bulgarian authorities to halt the forced deportation of Abdulrahman Al-Khalidi back to Saudi Arabia and grant him the right to be released in Bulgaria or another safe country;
- The Bulgarian authorities to investigate claims of abuse in detention against Abdulrahman Al-Khalidi and others seeking asylum;
- Other countries, in the European Union, Canada, or New Zealand, to immediately extend a humanitarian visa to Abdulrahman Al-Khalidi and grant him a safe passage from Bulgaria, in accordance to their commitments to International Humanitarian Law; and
- For people all over the world to sign this petition in support of granting Abdulrahman Al-Khalidi humanitarian asylum in a safe country and to stop his forced deportation to Saudi Arabia.
