News - Middle East: Dozens of Democratic senators and members of Congress have condemned Saudi Arabia as a "police state."

In a letter addressed to President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, 32 representatives urged immediate pressure on Saudi Arabia to unconditionally release political prisoners.

The letter described the kingdom as a "religious police state" and voiced serious concern over the ongoing crackdown on freedom of expression, as well as the plight of "many who have been unjustly tried and imprisoned" in Saudi Arabia.

The letter highlighted several human rights defenders and women's rights activists, including relatives of American citizens, who have been imprisoned for decades or banned from travel due to the authorities' "zero tolerance" policy toward critical political thought and opposition.

Among those mentioned in the July 30, 2024 letter were human rights defender Muhammad Al-Qahtani, who has been forcibly disappeared since completing his 10-year prison sentence in November 2022, and humanitarian activist Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for satirical social media posts and has also been forcibly disappeared since 2021 with no contact with his family.

Other notable cases included Salma Al-Shehab and Noura Al-Qahtani, who are serving 27 and 45-year prison sentences respectively for social media posts supporting women's rights and alleged terrorism-related crimes. The letter also mentioned human rights defender Walid Abu Al-Khair, sentenced to 15 years for his peaceful human rights advocacy, and sports trainer Manahel Al-Otaibi, who was secretly sentenced to 11 years reportedly over her choice of clothing and support for women's rights.

Nearly four years have passed since Democratic President Joe Biden took office, during which he pledged to challenge Saudi Arabia's abysmal human rights record, in stark contrast to the previous Trump administration, which repeatedly shielded the Saudi leadership from criticism. However, he did not take any further steps.