Article 26 of the Saudi Protection of Whistleblowers, Witnesses, Experts and Victims Law

This article contains three offenses with graduated penalties:

1. Threats, blackmail and enticement: anyone who threatens or blackmails a protected person, or gives them, or promises them, a gift, benefit or advantage to make them refrain from telling or disclosing the truth, is punished with imprisonment for no more than two years and a fine of no more than SAR 300,000, or either. A promise of a gift or benefit falls within the text just as giving it does.

2. Obstructing protection or refusing to provide it: anyone who obstructs the provision of protection to a protected person, or refuses to provide it where the Law obliges them to, is punished with imprisonment for no more than one year and a fine of no more than SAR 200,000, or either. Refusal is punishable when the person refusing is legally obliged to provide protection.

3. Employment measures against a protected person: anyone who takes against a protected person any of the employment measures in paragraph (1) of Article 17 is punished with imprisonment for no more than 6 months and a fine of no more than SAR 100,000, or either. Those measures are: termination of the employment relationship, any decision that changes their legal or administrative status and results in reducing their rights, depriving them of them, or damaging their standing or reputation, or any arbitrary employment measure, lawsuit or disciplinary penalty, where they relate to the reasons for which protection was decided.

This article complements Article 25, which punishes the use of force or violence against a protected person. Article 27 punishes a private establishment if it is proven that its manager or one of its personnel committed, in its interest, an offense under Articles 25 and 26. Anyone who needs to assess their position can consult a lawyer who specializes in criminal cases.