Mohammad Fahad al-Qahtani

This article is about an economics professor and human rights organisation co-founder. For the Guantanamo Bay prisoner, see Mohammed al-Qahtani. For other people named al-Qahtani, see Qahtan (disambiguation) § Al-Qahtani.

Mohammad Fahad al-Qahtani
محمد فهد مفلح القحطاني
Al-Qahtani in November 2012
Born
Mohammad Fahad Muflih al-Qahtani[1][2]

1965 or 1966 (age 58–59)[3]
NationalitySaudi
Occupation(s)economics professor at the Institute of Diplomatic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Saudi Arabia)[4]
Known forco-founding of ACPRA[1]
Children4[4] (Omar al-Qahtani and Othman al-Qahtani)[citation needed]
AwardsRight Livelihood Award

Mohammad Fahad Muflih al-Qahtani (محمد فهد مفلح القحطاني, born 1965)[3] is a human rights activist, economics professor[4] and political prisoner currently jailed at Al-Ha’ir Prison[5] in Riyadh. Prior to his arbitrary 2012 arrest, he co-founded and later led[1] the Saudi Arabia human rights organisation Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association.[6] Alkarama described al-Qahtani as "one of [the Saudi Arabian judiciary's] most eloquent and fervent critics".[7] On 9 March 2013, al-Qahtani was sentenced to ten years in prison followed by a ten-year travel ban, ostensibly for "co-founding an unlicensed civil association".[8] He has carried out several hunger strikes to protest Saudi prison conditions endured during his politically motivated incarceration. As of 2022, he remains jailed and has been intermittently kept in solitary confinement since 2018.[9]

In 2018, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award, together with other jailed activists Abdullah al-Hamid and Waleed Abulkhair for "their visionary and courageous efforts, guided by universal human rights principles, to reform the totalitarian political system in Saudi Arabia."[10] Their awards were received on their behalf by his son Omar al-Qahtani and Yahya Assiri.[11]

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference acpra_founding was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference alarabiya_muflih was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference AI_2012_charges was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Lippman_profile was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Prisoners of Conscience: Mohammed Fahad al-Qahtani". القسط لحقوق الإنسان منظمة. ALQST. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference acprahr-info was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference alkarama_charges was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference BBCNews_court_jails was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference ALQST_alQahtani_timeline was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ 3 Saudi human rights activists awarded "Alternative Nobel", Jan M. Olsen, Fox News, 24 September 2018
  11. ^ Jailed Saudi activists honored with Right Livelihood Award, Deutsche Welle