Dissidents have been detained as political prisoners in Saudi Arabia during the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s.[1] 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,[2][3][4][5][6] with security forces firing live bullets in the air on 19 August 2012 at a protest at al-Ha'ir Prison.[7] As of 2012[update], 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,[3][8] to 30,000 by the UK-based Islamic Human Rights Commission[1] and the BBC.[9]