Nawaf al-Rasheed, a dual Qatari-Saudi citizen, is a young lauded poet who lives and studies in Qatar. On May 12, 2018, al-Rasheed was arrested by Kuwaiti authorities and extradited to Saudi Arabia “under bilateral mutual security arrangements.” His whereabouts and the motive for his arrest remain unknown.

On May 9, al-Rasheed entered Kuwait lawfully using his Qatari passport to attend a dinner in his honor held by Kuwaiti poet Abdelkarim al-Jabari. It was three days later on May 12, as he attempted to board a return flight to Doha, Qatar, that al-Rasheed was arrested and deported from Kuwait to Saudi Arabia. Al-Rasheed’s Saudi passport has been expired since 2015.

According to family and friends, al-Rasheed—the son of late Saudi Prince Talal Bin Abdulaziz al-Rasheed—does not identify as an activist and his work is not political in nature. Still, the al-Rasheed family is a historic rival of the ruling al-Saud family. Shortly after losing contact with al-Rasheed while he was in Kuwait, his family filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Committee of Qatar, which condemned his arbitrary detention and forced disappearance. Family members also decried the fact that Saudi Arabia has continued to deny them contact with al-Rasheed since his arrest.

Al-Rasheed’s arrest comes amidst a recent crackdown on freedom of expression inside Saudi Arabia as well as increased targeting of Qatari citizens and fabrication of charges against them. In all circumstances, recent analyses of Saudi Interior Ministry information show that arbitrary detentions of longer than six months without court proceedings or contact with family and lawyers have become the norm.

Saudi Arabia must immediately reveal the location of al-Rasheed and grant him contact with family and legal council. They must also release him as he has not been accused of any crime.

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