Wife of Briton pleads for Saudi Arabia to release him from ‘arbitrary detention’

The wife of a British national who has been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia since 2024 for social media posts, has pleaded for his release as his wellbeing declines.In November, the UN working group on arbitrary detention found Ahmed al-Doush was being detained arbitrarily under international law and recommended his immediate release, as well as the payment of compensation. The findings followed its eight-month inquiryThe plea for clemency by his wife, Amaher Nour, which is backed by Amnesty International, is less focused on the nature of the trial or the quality of Saudi justice, and is more a personal humanitarian appeal to the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.Nour said: “One year and eight months have passed – long enough for us all to feel the weight of absence and the pain of separation. His return to his children has become a hope we hold on to every day. His return would restore stability to his family and give his children the chance to grow up in the care and embrace of their father, instead of living with this painful emptiness during their young years.”A humanitarian appeal has been made to the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. Photograph: ReutersThe UK Foreign Office told the Guardian: “We are supporting a British man who is detained in Saudi Arabia and in contact with his family and local authorities.”Officials said the Middle East minister, Hamish Falconer, has raised the case multiple times with his Saudi counterparts.The UK has sent military assets to Saudi Arabia to help protect the country from Iranian attacks and is promising to send more to help open the strait.Al-Doush, a British citizen born in Sudan, has four children, the youngest of whom is a year old and the others are aged 10 or younger. Al-Doush was arrested on a family holiday while his wife was pregnant with their fourth child.Amnesty said: “Ahmed’s physical and mental health have sharply declined. Chronic restrictions on communication with his family have left him profoundly isolated and vulnerable. He has undertaken multiple hunger strikes in protest at the continued denial of contact with his wife and young children.“Most recently, his condition has deteriorated to a level that has prompted serious fears of self-harm amounting to a risk to life. His family, his legal team and human rights advocates are united in their alarm: without urgent intervention, the consequences could be irreversible.”Yvette Cooper,, the UK foreign secretary, meets her Saudi counterpart, Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, in Riyadh in March. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PAThe UN working group report on al-Doush was published in March 2026, but Saudi Arabia, instead of complying with the recommendation, confirmed in April that he had been found guilty and it had reduced his sentence to five years. Saudi Arabia has said the trial and detention was in line with domestic and international law.According to the UN working group, al-Doush, who was based in Manchester, had been sentenced in March last year to 10 years in prison by a specialised criminal court because of social media posts that were more than five years old and an association with a critic of the Saudi government.The judgment has not been made available to his family.His lawyers said: “The weight of a lengthy prison sentence in a country he does not know for social media posts has been difficult for both Ahmed and his family to grasp.”The UN working group found al-Doush’s detention arbitrary because he had been held incommunicado and not been informed promptly of the reasons for his arrest. It also found he was not brought before a judge for five months after his arrest and was denied access to his family for two and a half months. He was not granted a consular visit or a call to his family until November.The working group concluded that he had been arrested purely because of a social media post and perceived association with a Saudi critic in exile. Al-Doush’s lawyers have said he is socially acquainted with the individual, but nothing more.During his interrogation he was asked about his social media activity. His lawyers said his account had 37 followers and a history of only four posts in total, including one about a third country, believed to be Sudan, posted in 2018.Saudi Arabia told the UN that Ahmed al-Doush had committed terrorist crimes. Photograph: Valentyn Hrystych/AlamySaudi Arabia told the UN that al-Doush had committed terrorist crimes, including his support for terrorist ideology, his meeting with supporters and followers of terrorist ideology, and his use of the information network to commit terrorist crimes and to promote terrorist ideology. It said all proper procedures were followed, including consular access and the appointment of a lawyer of his choosing, and that the trial was heard in public and was fair.Haydee Dijkstal, al-Doush’s barrister at 33 Bedford Row chambers, said the UK government “must use the UN decision to help one of its citizens resolve an unjust nightmare”.The UN said the Foreign Officehad refused to share any information about al-Doush with his family for a two and a half months, citing data protection laws, a practice that has been repeatedly criticised by the families of other current and former detainees.