Nayef Al-Sahfi

Nayef Al-Sahfi is a Saudi preacher who became known for short, humorous dawah clips aimed at young people on social media platforms{cite:source/youtube-alsahfi}. The Saudi Leaks site describes his activity as limited to religious dawah among adolescents and young people{cite:source/saudileaks-nayef-al-sahfi}. He was arrested in September 2017 according to the Together For Justice organisation, which says the Specialized Criminal Court sentenced him in 2020 to ten years in prison{cite:source/taj-rights-nayef-al-sahfi}.

His YouTube channel (ALSAHFI) carries keywords set in his own name and links his Instagram account (n99f) and his Twitter and Facebook accounts (alsahfe2){cite:source/youtube-alsahfi}. Among the channel's best-known content are his series "Qissat Aya" (Story of a Verse) and the "Fawanis" sketches he performed with Mansour Al-Salmi, including the episode "Badal Da'i" (Wasted Substitute){cite:source/youtube-alsahfi}. The channel's videos date from 2013 to 2017 and stop in the year the case sources report his arrest{cite:source/youtube-alsahfi}{cite:source/taj-rights-nayef-al-sahfi}. The channel had about 811,000 subscribers in a platform count taken in October 2026; platform figures change constantly{cite:source/youtube-alsahfi}.

Together For Justice says Al-Sahfi has been detained since September 2017, in a wave of arrests that targeted independent preachers, academics and intellectuals in Saudi Arabia{cite:source/taj-rights-nayef-al-sahfi}. Saudi Leaks reported, citing human-rights sources, that he was forcibly disappeared in the campaign against figures of the Awakening (Sahwa) movement{cite:source/saudileaks-nayef-al-sahfi}. According to the organisation, the Specialized Criminal Court sentenced him in 2020 to ten years in prison, after years of detention with little information about his condition{cite:source/taj-rights-nayef-al-sahfi}. The organisation reports that he has been subjected to long periods of cut-off contact with his family and denied visits, and it calls for his release{cite:source/taj-rights-nayef-al-sahfi}. The Saudi authorities have not publicly confirmed or denied these reports{cite:source/taj-rights-nayef-al-sahfi}{cite:source/saudileaks-nayef-al-sahfi}.

This section records the positions attributed to the subject and others' positions on him, each cited to its source; they are not the museum's verdict.

Together For Justice describes him as a moderate reformist preacher known for rejecting extremism and violence, whose religious and intellectual discourse centred on reform, advice and moderation{cite:source/taj-rights-nayef-al-sahfi}. Saudi Leaks holds that his rhetoric, belonging to the Awakening movement, made him vulnerable to arrest in the Crown Prince's campaign against that movement's members{cite:source/saudileaks-nayef-al-sahfi}. The rights organisation considers his case part of a broader pattern since 2017 targeting independent religious and intellectual voices, and holds that his trial lacked transparency and fair-trial guarantees{cite:source/taj-rights-nayef-al-sahfi}.

• His YouTube channel (ALSAHFI){cite:source/youtube-alsahfi}
• Together For Justice, case page on Nayef Al-Sahfi (11 July 2026){cite:source/taj-rights-nayef-al-sahfi}
• Saudi Leaks, report on Nayef Al-Sahfi's disappearance{cite:source/saudileaks-nayef-al-sahfi}