Türkiye urged to halt extradition of Syria refugee and activist Mohamad Alkayali News
Mahmut Bozarslan, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Türkiye urged to halt extradition of Syria refugee and activist Mohamad Alkayali

Amnesty International urged Turkish authorities on Friday to immediately halt the extradition of Syrian refugee Mohamad Alkayali and release him from detention, warning of severe human rights risks if he is deported to Saudi Arabia. 

Amnesty’s press release stated: “Mohamad Alkayali suffers from a severe cervical herniated disc and chronic pain, which requires surgery. His extradition to Saudi Arabia would expose him to a serious risk of human rights violations, including arbitrary detention, an unfair trial, and torture or other ill-treatment.”

Mohamad Alkayali lived legally in Türkiye since 2014 until Turkish officials arrested him in Istanbul on December 28, 2024, acting on an INTERPOL Red Notice issued on behalf of Saudi Arabia in January 2016. The notice, reportedly based on vague allegations, accuses Alkayali of “forgery of seals” — a charge brought against him three years after he had left Saudi Arabia. Amnesty and other legal experts argue that this Red Notice is politically motivated and constitutes a misuse of INTERPOL’s system to silence political dissenters.

Article 3 of INTERPOL’s Constitution prohibits that the organization from working on politically motivated cases. Equally, Article 83 of its Rules on the Processing of Data also mandates that Red Notices must provide sufficient judicial information, which Mohamad Alkayali’s notice apparently lacks. Amnesty also noted that the Saudi government asked INTERPOL to keep the Red Notice confidential, which has raised concerns among human rights experts over the request’s legitimacy and transparency.

Mohamad Alkayali’s family and legal representatives have also urged Turkish authorities to uphold their international human rights obligations and ensure his protection from refoulement. If extradited, they argue, Mohamad Alkayali could face a heightened risk of arbitrary detention or other human rights violations, given Saudi Arabia’s history of prosecuting activists and dissidents under what experts have called “vague” cybercrime and anti-terrorism laws. In recent years, the Kingdom has escalated its crackdown on online expression, with prison sentences ranging from 10 to 45 years for individuals merely engaging in peaceful online activities.

Mohamad Alkayali, a former IT consultant, had worked in Saudi Arabia before leaving in 2013 due to increasing harassment over his vocal criticism of the Saudi government’s treatment of Syrian refugees. His activism, particularly highlighting Saudi Arabia’s restrictive asylum policies and financial burdens on Syrian refugees, drew the ire of authorities, forcing him to seek refuge in Türkiye. Since then, he has remained lawfully in Türkiye and has not violated any laws in the country. 

THIS DAY @ LAW

Maurice Papon convicted of war crimes

On April 2, 1998, Maurice Papon was convicted of war crimes for his role in deporting French Jews to concentration camps during the Nazi occupation of France. Under German occupation, Papon served as the supervisor of the Service for Jewish Questions in Bordeaux from which he collaborated with the Nazi SS and oversaw the deportation of 1,560 Jewish men, women, and children to concentration camps. Read a biography of Maurice Papon from the BBC.

Massachusetts enacted anti-Vietnam War bill

On April 2, 1970, the Governor of Massachusetts signed into law an anti-Vietnam War bill providing that no inhabitant of Massachusetts inducted into or serving in the armed forces "shall be required to serve" abroad in an armed hostility that had not been declared a war by Congress under Article I, Section 8, clause 11 of the United States Constitution. Supporters of the legislation hoped that the US Supreme Court would seize on the obvious conflict that the bill created between state and federal law and would rule on the constitutionality of the Vietnam War itself, but the Court refused to exercise original jurisdiction, forcing the case into the lower federal courts.

Trial of Marquess of Queensberry begins, leading to the imprisonment of Oscar Wilde

On April 2, 1895, the libel trial of the Marquess of Queensberry began on allegations that he called Oscar Wilde a "posing somdomite [sic]". The trial led to the disclosure of details of Wilde's personal life that eventually resulted in his imprisonment for homosexuality. Read about the trials of Oscar Wilde.