Found guilty of murdering a Yemeni citizen on Yemeni soil in 2000, Al Sai'ari was sentenced to four years and six months in prison and to 3,500 lashes. Although both the prison sentence and the lashes were carried out, when the family of the victim heard about his release in 2004, they asked Saudi authorities to re-arrest him and sentence him again. Summoned by the local judicial authorities, Al'Sai'ari was arrested again and sent to Najran prison where he stayed for seven years in arbitrary detention before being sentenced to death in 2012.

Fulfilling his mission to protect people at risk of the most severe human rights abuse, on 23 September 2013 Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions to ask him to urgently call upon the Saudi authorities not to carry out his sentence which was handed down after an unfair trial, and reminding Saudi Arabia's obligations under international human rights law.

In a longer tweet, Al Sai'ari thanks Alkarama for issuing a statement highlighting the procedural errors in the process, as well as the local press (especially Al-Hayat) and other human rights organisations (in particular Dewany and Amnesty International), which helped to put his case in the spotlight, leading to the issuance of an urgent telegram from the Interior Ministry to the Principality of Najran to postpone the execution, followed by a request from the Supreme Court in Riyadh to the General Court in Najran to reconsider their judgment.

Alkarama's team welcomes the decision of the Saudi Supreme Court. "We are very pleased to note that the acts of the UN Special Procedures are starting to be successful in saving lives," says Mourad Dhina, Executive Director at Alkarama, "and we wish to thank personally M. Christof Heyns, Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, for following-up on this case."

For more information or quotes by Alkarama's Executive or Legal Director or local partners, please contact the media team on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Dir: +41 22 734 1007 Ext: 810).