Visitors to Saudi Arabia, including those travelling for tourism and religious pilgrimages such as Hajj and Umrah, risk being detained, subjected to grossly unfair trials, and sentenced to lengthy prison sentences for their social media activity – including posts published before entering the Kingdom – Amnesty International and ALQST said today.
Amnesty International and ALQST have documented the cases of nine people, predominantly from Global South and Middle Eastern countries of origin, who were arrested in Saudi Arabia during visits between July 2022 and late 2025 for their social media posts. Four of the nine were visiting for Hajj or Umrah; the other five for tourism or family trips.
Saudi authorities detained some visitors shortly after they arrived in the country, others during their stay and others while attempting to exit the country. In the documented cases, Saudi authorities interrogated visitors about social media posts they had published, and subjected them to prolonged arbitrary detention, grossly unfair trials or delayed access to consular support. In two cases, Saudi authorities prevented those detained from sharing information with their relatives abroad.
“As Saudi Arabia positions itself as an international tourism destination and invests heavily in tourism as part of its Vision 2030 plan, it is simultaneously arresting and sentencing visitors to the Kingdom to lengthy prison terms simply for exercising their right to freedom of expression. Individuals travelling to Saudi Arabia to undertake once-in-a-lifetime religious pilgrimage journeys or to visit their loved ones are suddenly thrust into a nightmare scenario – without warning – torn apart from their families and all of this just for social media posts,” said Bissan Fakih, MENA Campaigner at Amnesty International.
