Essam Ahmed, an Egyptian fisherman, is at imminent risk of execution in Saudi Arabia. Saudi authorities arrested him in December 2021 from the sea between Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Essam Ahmed said he was coerced by a man wielding a gun to transport drugs. In November 2022, the Criminal Court in Tabuk sentenced him to death after a grossly unfair trial for drug-related offences. Essam Ahmed said he was tortured immediately after his arrest and “confessed” under torture to drug trafficking. He had no lawyer throughout his arrest and investigation period. Essam Ahmed’s conviction and death sentence must be immediately quashed and a fair retrial established, without resort to the death penalty.
