Saudi Arabia's blockade of Qatar is over – but my father is still in jail for opposing it | Abdullah Alaoudh and Abderrahmane Amor

My father, the Islamic scholar Salman Alodah, is among the many prisoners of conscience languishing in Saudi jails

The apparent end to the Saudi-led blockade of Qatar and a reconciliation among the states involved prompts the question: when will the Saudi government release the citizens who were caught up in the conflict and imprisoned during the three and a half-year crisis?

In a breakthrough, it was announced on 4 January that Saudi Arabia had opened its land border with Qatar, paving the way for an easing of tensions that had led to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain severing diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar in mid-2017. On 5 January, the annual GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) summit took place in Saudi Arabia's north-western Al-Ula province. And for the first time since the blockade on Qatar was imposed, the Qatari emir attended.