On 24 April 2016, Issa Al Hamid, president of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), was sentenced to nine years of imprisonment and a consecutive nine-year travel ban by the Specialised Criminal Court, following an unfair trial during which he was denied access to a lawyer and to the prosecution file, preventing him from preparing his defence. All hearings and sentencing were carried out in private, denying the public access to the trial. Furthermore, charges held against him criminalised acts falling under his rights to freedom of opinion, expression and association and precisely for having publicly condemned acts of torture and fair trial violations committed by the authorities.

CAT members are holding a session As a party to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT), Saudi Arabia is reviewed by the United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT), which assesses the country's compliance with its obligations under the UNCAT. In view of Saudi Arabia’s second review  on 22 and 25 April 2016, Alkarama provided the Committee members with an extensive report on the systematic practice of torture in the country and will personally brief the CAT members on its key concerns during the Committee’s 57th session in Geneva (Switzerland). After analysing the information sent by NGOs and the State in its report, the CAT will engage in a constructive dialogue with the State aiming to improve the situation of torture.

Alkarama welcomes the recent release of Waleed Al Dod Al Mekki Al Hussain, a Sudanese national who was arrested by the Saudi General Intelligence forces on 23 July 2015. According to Al Hussain’s family, his activities as founder and editor of Sudanese government critical online news site Al Rakoba were the cause for his arrest. Before his release, Al Hussain, who has been living in Saudi Arabia for 15 years, was told by the prison authorities that he would be deported to Sudan. But he feared to be subjected to further persecution, torture and execution, as he has received numerous threats from the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) since the foundation of Al Rakoba.

On 17 March 2013, 38-year-old sheikh Badr Halal Jasem Al Taleb was arrested at his house without a warrant by members of the police and the General Investigation Directorate (or "Mabahith") forces under the control of the Ministry of Interior responsible for investigating security related crimes, and taken to Riyadh Hair Prison.