Dissidents have been detained as political prisoners in Saudi Arabia during the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s. Protests and sit-ins calling for political prisoners to be released took place during the 2011–2012 Saudi Arabian protests in many cities throughout Saudi Arabia, with security forces firing live bullets in the air on 19 August 2012 at a protest at al-Ha'ir Prison. As of 2012, recent estimates of the number of political prisoners in Mabahith prisons range from a denial of any political prisoners at all by the Ministry of Interior, to 30,000 by the UK-based Islamic Human Rights Commission and the BBC.

A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention.