UK Minister Hamish Falconer Raises Ahmed Al-Doush Case as Saudi Arabia Arbitrarily Detains Him

A British national, Ahmed al-Doush, has been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia since 2024 for social media posts, and his wife Amaher Nour says his wellbeing is declining as she pleads for his release.

“The organization again calls on the international community to establish an independent international accountability mechanism tasked with investigating and publicly reporting on the gravest abuses and violations of international law committed over the past nine years, and also to collect and preserve evidence for future criminal prosecutions and reparations claims”

Amnesty International Belgique

The Guardian reports that the UN working group on arbitrary detention found in November that Ahmed al-Doush was being detained arbitrarily under international law and recommended his immediate release and compensation, after an eight-month inquiry.

Amnesty International Belgique

Nour told the Guardian: “One year and eight months have passed – long enough for us all to feel the weight of absence and the pain of separation.”

The UK Foreign Office told the Guardian that it is supporting a British man detained in Saudi Arabia and that officials including Middle East minister Hamish Falconer have raised the case multiple times with Saudi counterparts.

The Guardian says the UN working group report on al-Doush was published in March 2026, and Saudi Arabia confirmed in April that he had been found guilty and reduced his sentence to five years instead of complying with the recommendation for release.

Amnesty International is cited in the Guardian as saying Ahmed’s physical and mental health have sharply declined, with chronic restrictions on communication leaving him “profoundly isolated and vulnerable.”

BBC

The Guardian quotes Amnesty: “Most recently, his condition has deteriorated to a level that has prompted serious fears of self-harm amounting to a risk to life.”

The UN working group concluded that al-Doush was arrested purely because of a social media post and perceived association with a Saudi critic in exile, while Saudi Arabia said the trial and detention were in line with domestic and international law and that he had committed terrorist crimes.

The Guardian reports that 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.”

“January 27, 2026 On January 27, 2026, the organizations MENA Rights Group, ALQST for Human Rights, Artists at Risk Connection, Cartooning for Peace, and Cartoonists Rights filed a petition with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concerning the case of Mohammad al-Ghamdi”

Cartooning for Peace

The article also says 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.

It adds that al-Doush was based in Manchester and was 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 Guardian notes that the judgment has not been made available to his family, and that the UN working group found his detention arbitrary because he was held incommunicado and not informed promptly of the reasons for his arrest, including being denied access to his family for two and a half months.