Blog Post Oct 6, 2025 The Riyadh job Fifty comedians playing in Saudi Arabia, millions of dollars, and one head-scratcher: Why are they doing this?
Press Release Sep 30, 2025 HRF statement on Saudi ArabiaтАЩs Riyadh Comedy Festival The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) calls on the comedians scheduled to perform at the Riyadh Comedy Festival either to cancel their participation or to use the festival as a platform to denounce the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia.
Op-Ed May 9, 2025 Why is Saudi Arabia at the Gold Cup? ItтАЩs the latest in the KingdomтАЩs soft power campaign Last month, the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) held an official draw in Miami, Florida for the 2025 Gold Cup, the premier biennial tournament for menтАЩs football on the continent.
Press Release Feb 11, 2025 HRF Celebrates the Release of Saudi Academic Salma al-Shehab The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) celebrates the release of Saudi Ph.D. student and womenтАЩs rights activist Salma al-Shehab from a Saudi prison.
Blog Post Feb 10, 2025 The Playbook: How Saudi Arabia uses tennis to present a facade of womenтАЩs reforms When Saudi Arabia hosted one of the most important events in professional womenтАЩs tennis, the WomenтАЩs Tennis Association (WTA) Finals, in November, it wasnтАЩt, of course, without controversy. The New York Times put it this way:
Blog Post Jan 12, 2024 Fueling Ambition: AramcoтАЩs pivotal role in Saudi ArabiaтАЩs sports expansion In November 2023, news broke that AramcoтАФSaudi ArabiaтАЩs state-owned oil and energy giantтАФwas set to complete a тАЬsignificant sponsorshipтАЭ deal with FIFA that would make it the football governing bodyтАЩs biggest sponsor over the coming decade.
Blog Post Oct 24, 2023 The Silent Chains of Saudi Arabia: My Fight for My Daughter and Our Freedom In 2011, while working in Tunisia, my life completely changed. I witnessed the start of the Arab Spring and fall of TunisiaтАЩs dictator, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, due to a popular uprising against injustice.
Announcement Aug 31, 2023 Human Trafficking & Authoritarianism: Read HRFтАЩs Latest Reports Human trafficking, considered a modern form of slavery, impacts tens of millions and exists in every region of the world. In 2023, an estimated 28 million individuals were trapped in modern slavery and 22 million trapped in forced marriage globally.
Report Aug 25, 2023 New HRF Report: Human Trafficking in Saudi Arabia Today, the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) published a new report, тАЬSaudi ArabiaтАЩs Human Trafficking Mechanisms,тАЭ as part of its ongoing series exploring the links between human trafficking and authoritarianism.
Blog Post Aug 4, 2023 How Authoritarianism Fuels the Middle EastтАЩs Captagon Problem Captagon, commonly known as the тАЬpoor manтАЩs cocaine,тАЭ has recently re-emerged as a popular recreational drug and is rapidly spreading throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
Report Aug 1, 2023 Human Trafficking in Saudi Arabia Report Saudi Arabia has a vast and varied track record of human rights violations. As an absolute monarchy, the King- dom has established laws and practices that serve to maintain the ruling familyтАЩs hold on power.
Report Aug 1, 2023 Arabic Edition of тАЬHuman Trafficking in Saudi ArabiaтАЭ Saudi Arabia has a vast and varied track record of human rights violations. As an absolute monarchy, the Kingdom has established laws and practices that serve to maintain the ruling familyтАЩs hold on power.
Press Release Jul 10, 2023 UN Calls For Release Of Saudi WomenтАЩs Rights Activists Last Friday, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) released a decision on the cases of Salma al-Shehab and Nourah al-Qahtani. It finds their detention to be arbitrary and calls for their immediate release.
Blog Post Apr 7, 2023 Like, Tweet, & Torment: Authoritarian Troll Farms тАЬThey were attacking him basically every single day, threatening him, trying to silence him. So Jamal felt the whole country was against him тАУ and that was hurting. He said sometimes тАШI feel like I donтАЩt want to talk about anything, I donтАЩt want to expose my opinion.тАЩ тАЬ
Blog Post Mar 28, 2023 Women at the Forefront of Democracy: Combatting Oppressive Laws in Saudi Arabia As authoritarianism persists throughout the Middle East and North Africa, itтАЩs crucial to recognize the womenтАЩs rights activists who have stood up against these dictators despite severe repercussions. In Saudi Arabia, one of the regionтАЩs most repressive regimes, advocating for human rights comes with a high risk.
Press Release Oct 28, 2022 HRF Submits Joint Petition on Saudi Activist Salma Al-Shehab This week, the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), MENA Rights Group, The Freedom Initiative, and ALQST for Human Rights submitted a joint petition to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) on behalf of the Ph.D. student and womenтАЩs rights activist Salma Al-Shehab.
Press Release Aug 24, 2022 HRF to Saudi Arabia: Let American Mother & Daughter Return Home The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) calls on Saudi Arabia to repeal its oppressive male guardianship laws and to allow women to exercise basic civil rights without the permission of their male guardians.
News Jul 14, 2022 President Biden to Meet with Saudi Dictator Tomorrow Tomorrow, July 15th, United States President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with Saudi dictator Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).
Blog Post Mar 12, 2022 HRF Welcomes Release of Saudi Writer and Activist Raif Badawi NEW YORK (March 11, 2022) тАФ The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) welcomes the release of Raif Badawi, a Saudi writer and creator of the website Free Saudi Liberals.
Blog Post Mar 12, 2022 Four Years Since the Arbitrary Detention of Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan Today marks the four-year anniversary of the arbitrary detention and forced disappearance of Saudi humanitarian aid worker and online activist Abdulrahman al-Sadhan.