Human Rights watch has appealed to the Saudi Arabian government to reform its broad and ambiguous libel laws following the arrest of blogger Nasir al-Subai’i. The suspect was arrested under the Law to Combat Information Crimes, issued in March 2007, due to his public criticism of the Saudi bureaucracy while trying to secure reimbursement for his brother’s healthcare.
Under Saudi law, the state is obliged to pay for foreign healthcare when it is not available domestically. After Nasir’s brother, Muhammad fell into a coma as a result of a traffic accident in March 2007, Nasir acquired approval from King Abdullah for Muhammad to receive medical treatment in China and USA. However, after not being reimbursed by the Ministry of Health, al-Subai’i followed official channels of grievances, including writing letters and a lawsuit against the Ministry. Eventually, in early 2009 he resorted to documenting his frustration on a youtube blog and spoke on Lebanese and Saudi Arabian television. He was arrested in July 2009 and is currently on bail.
Al-Subai’i was arrested under a recent law which has been called “overbroad” by Human Rights Watch. The law punishes “libelling others… by means of information technology” and “producing anything that of its nature contests public order… or the inviolability of private life”. This law contradicts the UN Resolution on the Rights of Human Rights Defenders 1999. Article 9.2 of the resolution protects “everyone whose rights or freedoms are allegedly violated ... to complain to and have that complaint promptly reviewed in a public hearing before an independent, impartial and competent judicial or other authority established by law”.