Yahya Assiri
Yahya Assiri | |
|---|---|
يحيى عسيري | |
| Born | 17 July 1980 Abha, Asir Province, Saudi Arabia |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Known for | leadership of ALQST |
| Notable work | ALQST, Diwan London and Moqsetoon |
| Political party | National Assembly Party[1] |
| Website | www.assiri.uk |
Yahya Assiri (Arabic: يحيى عسيري) is a Saudi Arabian human rights activist and former member of the Royal Saudi Air Force.
Early life and career
[edit]Assiri was born in 1980 in Abha, Asir Province, a region in south-west Saudi Arabia. He joined the Royal Saudi Air Force when he was 18 and eventually became responsible for weapons purchases. Assiri received his master's degree in Human Rights and Political Communications from Kingston University and has a bachelor's degree in Administration.[2]
Political and human rights activism
[edit]Assiri described his human rights concerns starting with voicing the worries of his air force colleagues who felt that their salaries were unfairly low in comparison with the wealth of members of the Saudi royal family. Assiri started becoming involved in online political forums in 2004. In 2006 he attended five or six public forums organised by Saud al-Hashimi in Jeddah, in which guests included the Palestinian Khaled Mashal and the Tunisian Rached Ghannouchi. He became involved in protests during an air force training period in London beginning in 2009. At the end of this period, he returned to Saudi Arabia but had difficulty finding work.[3]
Political asylum
[edit]In 2013, Assiri returned to London to study human rights at Kingston University. In 2014, worried by the arrests of Abdullah al-Hamid and Mohammad Fahad al-Qahtani of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association and the long prison sentences that they received and by news from his colleagues that he would most likely be imprisoned if he returned to Saudi Arabia, he applied for political asylum in the United Kingdom. Assiri founded Al Qst (or ALQST),[4] a human rights organisation, in August 2014.[3] In 2015, he expressed concern that British authorities might have been delaying his request for political asylum in order to force him and his family to return to Saudi Arabia.[5] In early 2017 he and his family were granted asylum with refugee status in the United Kingdom.[6]
Cybercrime target
[edit]In 2018, Assiri, together with other Saudi opposition members, like Ghanem Almasarir, was the target of cybercrime attempts. Their phones were targeted by the Pegasus spyware, with suspicions that the Saudi authorities were responsible.[7]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ El Yaakoubi, Aziz (23 September 2020), Maclean, William (ed.), "Saudi dissidents form pro-democracy political group", Reuters
- ^ ""Who we are - ALQST"". Retrieved September 4, 2017.
- ^ a b "The Saudi air force officer who became a human rights activist". Middle East Eye. 2015-03-05. Archived from the original on 2018-10-29. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
- ^ "alqst.org". Reporters Without Borders. Archived from the original on 2018-10-28. Retrieved 2018-10-28.
- ^ Paul Gallagher (16 October 2015). "Saudi dissident 'may be forced to return home' by UK Government despite torture fears". The Independent.
- ^ "Yahya Assiri... victory at last!". Cromwell Wilkes Ltd. 2017-02-17. Archived from the original on 2018-11-01. Retrieved 2018-11-01.
- ^ Exclusive: Saudi Dissidents Hit With Stealth iPhone Spyware Before Khashoggi's Murder, Thomas Brewster, November 21, Forbes
External links
[edit]- Yahya's Website
- Yahya Assiri on Twitter
- Yahya Assiri speaks on human rights in Saudi Arabia - يحيى العسيري يتحدث عن حقوق الإنسان في السعودية. 6 March 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2016 – via YouTube.
- Serina Sandhu (11 January 2015). "Saudi Arabia's 'outdated' brutality 'sparked by fear of online". The Independent. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
- Yahya Assiri testimonial for Waleed
- "Who Are We". Al Qst. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
- "What is the actual number of prisoners in Saudi Arabia?". ICFR. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
- Sveriges Radio (20 March 2015). "Relationerna med Saudiarabien". Sveriges Radio (in Swedish). Retrieved 6 February 2016.
- Yahya Assiri: The Saudi Regime Must Change or It Must Go-ELLIOT FRIEDLAND
