Israa al-Ghomgham (; also: ''Israa al-Ghamgam'') is a Saudi Arabian human rights advocate. She is especially known for her documentation of the 2017–18 Qatif unrest. In September 2018, she risked being sentenced to become the first female human rights defender to be

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

, possibly by beheading, in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

following what had been planned as a final hearing to be held on 28 October 2018. On 6 August 2018, the Saudi Arabian prosecutor involved in al-Ghomgham's case recommended that she and her husband be sentenced to death. Saudi activists stated that al-Ghomgham is the first woman to have faced capital punishment for human rights campaigning in Saudi Arabia. On 31 January 2019, the Saudi authorities dropped the prosecutor's request for al-Ghomgham to be sentenced to death. Al-Ghomgham was tried in an

unfair trial A fair trial is a trial which is "conducted fairly, justly, and with procedural regularity by an impartial judge". Various rights associated with a fair trial are explicitly proclaimed in Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, th ...

and in February 2021 was sentenced to an eight-year imprisonment term, as reported by the

Gulf Center for Human Rights The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR; ) is an independent non-profit charity that defends human rights among Middle Eastern states including, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, UAE, Oman, Iran, Qatar, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, and Lebanon. The GC ...

(GCHR).

Activism

Al-Ghomgham is well-known for her documentation of Eastern Province protests, which started in 2011–2012 during the Arab Spring and continued in 2017–18.

Arrest

Al-Ghomgham and her husband Moussa al-Hashem were arrested in their home around 6–8 December 2015, and held since then in the

Dammam Dammam (Arabic: الدمام ad-Dammām) is a city and governorate, and the capital of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Located on the coast of the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 1,386,166 as of 2022, making it the country's fifth- ...

al-Mabahith prison. The charges against the couple relate to the 2017–18 unrest in

Qatif Qatif Governorate ( ''Al-Qaṭīf'') is a list of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and urban area located in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. It extends from Ras Tanura and Jubail in the north to Damma ...

in the Eastern Province. According to

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

the charges include participating in protests, inciting protests, chanting slogans against the regime, attempting to inflame public opinion, filming protests, publishing on social media, using the photo of another woman on her

Facebook page Facebook is a social-network service website launched on February 4, 2004, by Mark Zuckerberg. The following is a list of software and technology features that can be found on the Facebook website and mobile app and are available to users of ...

, and providing moral support to rioters.

described the charges as "not resembl ngrecognizable crimes". On 6 August 2018, al-Ghomgham appeared before the

Specialized Criminal Court The Specialized Criminal Court (SCC; ) is a non-Sharia court created in Saudi Arabia in 2008 that tries suspected terrorists and human rights activists. On 26 June 2011, the court started trials of 85 people suspected of being involved in Al-Q ...

and the prosecutor recommended a

death sentence Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

, following the Islamic law principle of ''

ta'zir In Islamic Law, ''tazir'' (''ta'zeer'' or ''ta'zir'', ) lit. scolding; refers to punishment for offenses at the discretion of the judge (Qadi) or ruler of the state. Al-Ghomgham had no access to a lawyer for the first 32 months of her detention. The would-be final court hearing, at which the death penalty should have been confirmed or overturned, was scheduled for 28 October 2018. If confirmed, the death penalty would have had to have been confirmed or rejected by

King Salman Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (; born 31 December 1935) has been King of Saudi Arabia since 2015, and was Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 2015 to 2022. He is the 25th son of King Abdulaziz, the founder of Saudi Arabia. He assumed the thro ...

Beheading Decapitation is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and all vertebrate animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood by way of severing through the jugular vein and common ...

would have been carried out after Salman's confirmation of the sentence.

Reactions

Shia Rights Watch Shia Rights Watch (SRW) is an organization that works to defend justice and rights for Shia Muslims around the world. It is the first of its kind, a non-governmental, not for profit, organization that bases research and advocacy from case studies a ...

sought international support to stop the death sentence, arguing that it would set a precedent for executing other Saudi women campaigning for the rights of religious minorities. Sarah Whitson of Human Rights Watch stated that "seeking the death penalty for activists like Israa al-Ghomgham, who are not even accused of violent behavior, is monstrous" and in contradiction with the Saudi government's claim of reform. Ali Adubisi of the

European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights The European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR) () is a Europe-based human rights organisation for documenting and promoting human rights in Saudi Arabia. Aims and origin The European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights has published re ...

described the sentence as "a dangerous precedent" for the execution of other non-violent political activists. Samah Hadid, Middle East director of campaigns for

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

, agreed that the sentence set a dangerous precedent which "would send a horrifying message that other activists could be targeted in the same way for their peaceful protest and human rights activism". A spokesman for

Global Affairs Canada Global Affairs Canada (GAC; ; AMC)''Global Affairs Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (). is the department of the Government of Canada that ...

stated in relation to al-Ghomgham's situation that "Canada will always stand up for the protection of human rights, including women's rights and freedom of expression around the world", without calling for al-Ghomgham's "immediate release". A call by Canada earlier in August 2018 for the "immediate release" of women activists was stated by the Saudi government to be a factor in a diplomatic and trading crisis between the two countries. A video of the execution of Laila Basim from 2015, purporting to be of al-Ghomgham's execution, circulated on social media in August 2018.

Death penalty dropped

On 31 January 2019, Saudi authorities dropped the prosecutor's request for the death penalty to be imposed against al-Ghomgham. She was sentenced to eight years in prison, in February 2021. The

Gulf Centre for Human Rights The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR; ) is an independent non-profit charity that defends human rights among Middle Eastern states including, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, UAE, Oman, Iran, Qatar, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, and Lebanon. The GC ...

(GCHR) described the trial as having been "a show trial that lacked the minimum international standards for fair trial and due process" and called for al-Ghomgham to be immediately and unconditionally released.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghomgham, Israa 1980s births Living people People from Dammam Prisoners sentenced to death by Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabian dissidents Saudi Arabian human rights activists Saudi Arabian prisoners and detainees Saudi Arabian women human rights activists Controversies in Saudi Arabia

Activism

Arrest

Reactions

Death penalty dropped

See also

References