The Bulgarian authorities have released Saudi activist Abdul rahman_Al-Khaldi after he spent 4 years and 10 months in detention. His release is considered a victory for his struggle and for the human rights organizations that have supported his case from the beginning.

Al-Khaldi was transferred from the detention center in Lyubimets to the capital to complete procedures to change the terms of his detention, after which he was released on bail.

His case is one of the longest cases of asylum-seeker detention in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) represented Al-Khaldi before the European Court of Human Rights in a case concerning the excessive length of his detention.

Al-Khaldi faced the threat of deportation to his home country, where he was likely to face arbitrary detention and subsequent human rights violations, including torture and denial of legal representation, similar to dozens of activists in the Kingdom.

His asylum application was rejected multiple times. Although a court ruled that he should be released, the decisions were not implemented due to Saudi influence in Bulgaria, according to Al-Khaldi.

Saudi Arabia pursues activists across borders and exerts pressure to have them handed over to Saudi authorities, as happened with Hassan Al-Rabea in 2023 (handed over by Morocco to Saudi Arabia) and Mohammed Al-Otaibi in 2017 (handed over by Qatar), among others.