On 7 October 2016, the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) published its Concluding Observations on the third and fourth periodic review of Saudi Arabia held during its 73^rd sessionfrom 13 to 30 September. The Committee's experts assessed the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), ratified by Saudi Arabia in 1996, on the basis of information provided by both NGOs, as well as the State party in its national report.

On 2 September 2016 Alkarama wrote to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) regarding the case of a 32 year-old Saudi citizen who was arrested without a mandate, in the region of Al-Qatif, by members of the intelligence forces of the Saudi Ministry of Interior. He has been detained at the Dammam Central Prison for almost two years without any charges and without having been presented before a judicial authority. During his detention he was subjected to severe torture and was denied the right to a legal counsel.

On 1 September 2016, Alkarama referred the case of Mohamed Said, an Egyptian citizen detained in Saudi Arabia, to the Special Rapporteur on Torture (SRT) Juan Méndez, in order to prevent his extradition from Saudi Arabia to Egypt, where he will be at risk of torture.

On 21 September 2014, Murtaja Algariras, 13 years old at the time, was arrested by Saudi police on his way to Bahrain. During the investigation, Murtaja was tortured to extract confessions stating his participation in "illegal gatherings". Almost two years after his arrest, Murtaja has not yet been charged and no date has been set for his trial. Concerned over his fate, Alkarama referred his case to the Special Rapporteur on Freedoms of Peaceful Assembly and of Association (FPAA), requesting his intervention with the Saudi authorities.

On 1 June 2016, the Specialised Criminal Court (SCC) of Riyadh sentenced Mounir Aal Adam to death after admitting confessions made under torture into evidence. On 16 August 2016, Alkarama raised his case with the Special Rapporteur on Summary Executions (SUMEX), calling for her urgent intervention with the Saudi authorities to demand that the death penalty Mounir was sentenced to not be applied.

As organizations working to protect the rights of children and health workers in armed conflict, we are shocked by your decision announced on June 6, 2016 to remove the Saudi Arabia-led Coalition from the "list of shame" annexed to your published 2016 annual report to the United Nations Security Council on children and armed conflict, "pending the conclusions of [a] joint review" of the cases and numbers included in the text.

Dr Sabeel Ahmed, an Indian national residing in the city of Hofuf in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia was arrested by twenty Intelligence officers dressed in civilian clothes who raided his house on 9 February 2016. They took him away without presenting a warrant or informing him of the charges held against him.

The Committee against Torture has, on 13 May 2016, published its Concluding Observations in response to Saudi Arabia's second periodic report (CAT/C/SAU/2) and review sessions of 22 and 25 April 2016. In preparation of the review, Alkarama presented the experts of the committee with a list of issues and a shadow report, outlining its evaluation of Saudi Arabia's compliance with the Convention. Alkarama welcomes the Committee's concluding observations which very much reflect the organization's main points of concern.

During its review by the United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT), the delegation of Saudi Arabia portrayed a picture of respect for human rights and an enabling environment for civil society, despite all cases of torture, lack of fundamental guarantees and repression of human rights activists presented by NGOs and mentioned by the CAT experts during the review. According to the delegation, all these cases were based on “completely unfounded information”.

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.