The following is a timeline of the 2011–2012 Saudi Arabian protests since July 2012. The 2011–2012 Saudi Arabian protests are a series of ongoing protests taking place in Saudi Arabia, which began in January 2011, influenced by concurrent protests in the region.

In July 2012, Amnesty International protested in the United Nations Human Rights Council against legal persecution of Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) leaders. Protests calling for prisoners to be freed and protesting against the Saudi government occurred in Buraidah on 23 July and in front of the Ministry of Interior in Riyadh on 25 July, in Riyadh and Mecca on 28 July, in Ta'if, in Buraidah, near al-Ha'ir Prison and in Dammam in August.

In July and August 2012, protests in the Qatif region intensified after Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was wounded in the leg and arrested by police on 8 July. Three men were killed in a protest on the evening of the arrest. Funerals and protests took place on 10 July, 11 July and 13 July, including chants calling for the downfall of the House of Saud. Another protester was shot dead in the 13 July al-Awamiyah protest. While detained, al-Nimr was tortured, had bruises on his face and broken teeth, and started a hunger strike. Protest organisers in al-Awamiyah stated their support for al-Nimr and insisted on the use of nonviolent resistance. Protester Mohamed al-Shakhouri was shot in the back and neck and arrested in a 26–27 July protest calling for al-Nimr's release. Further protests called for all Shia and Sunni detainees to be freed, including al-Shakhouri. A protester and a soldier were fatally shot in Qatif during a 3–4 August evening human rights protest, leading to several more protests.

July 2012

1 July Following students' protests at King Khalid University in early March, the president of the university, Abdullah al-Rashid, was replaced by Abdulrahman al-Dawood on 1 July by King Abdullah.

3 July On 3 July, Amnesty International protested to the United Nations Human Rights Council against the court trial of Mohammad Fahad al-Qahtani and the arrest and sentencing of Mohammed al-Bejadi to four years' imprisonment, both prosecuted for their activities as leaders of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA). Amnesty International said that "Saudi Arabian authorities are engaged in a campaign to cow Saudi Arabian human rights defenders into silence" and that "instead of repressing leading human rights defenders, the Saudi Arabian authorities should be investigating the human rights violations they have documented."

8 July On 8 July near Qatif, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was shot by police in the leg and was arrested for his political activities according to his brother and police. Thousands of people protested in response. Akbar al-Shakhouri, Mohamed al-Felfel and a third man were killed in the protest. Pictures of al-Nimr "covered with what appeared to be a blood-stained white blanket" were published online by Eastern Province activists. Activists said that al-Shakhouri and al-Felfel were killed by rooftop police snipers. The Ministry of Interior denied the claim.

9 July Princess Sara bint Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, niece of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, applied for political asylum in the United Kingdom on 9 July.

10 July From a thousand to ten thousand people participated in Qatif city on 10 July in a funeral for Mohamed al-Felfel and a protest against the killings. A hundred people protested on Tarout Island. Security forces shot live bullets against protesters in the Qatif and Tarout Island protests. Participants chanted, "Down with Muhammad bin Fahd" and "Down with the House of Saud".

Ministry of Interior spokesperson Mansour al-Turki stated, "Some trouble-seekers took advantage of the gathering to hide in their midst and divert the context of this event which led the security forces to do their duty to keep the peace and ensure the safety of those participating in the funeral procession."

11 July Ten thousand people participated in a funeral for al-Shakhouri was held in al-Awamiyah on 11 July. Participants chanted "Down with the House of Saud", "Down with Mohammed bin Fahd" and "Qatif and Bahrain are one people" and carried Bahraini flags.

Activists said to Thomson Reuters that Nimr al-Nimr was being held in Riyadh.

13 July A protest took place in al-Awamiyah on 13 July calling for al-Nimr to be released. Abdallah Ja'far al-Ojami was killed by police bullets. Ministry of Interior spokesperson Mansour al-Turki described the police shooting as a response to a Molotov cocktail and gunfire attack on the police station. Al-Awamiyah residents interviewed for Rasid.com described the police claim as unrealistic, stating that the police station is "well protected with concrete barriers and fences". Activists interviewed by Al Jazeera English stated that al-Ojami "had been walking by the police station and had not participated in any attack". According to Saudi scholar Ali al-Ahmed, al-Ojama was shot "while walking in the street of [al-Awamiyah]; he was shot by a sniper, by [a] special forces sniper, about half a kilometre away from the police station. He was captured, he was brought to the station bleeding and they actually beat him up and let him die."

14 July A protest calling for political prisoners to be freed occurred in Buraidah on 14 July. Ten women, relatives of Saleh al-Moteq, a political prisoner, were detained.

On the same day, a conflict between pro-government and anti-government prisoners occurred in al-Ha'ir Prison. Security forces intervened. Saudi authorities said that nobody was injured.

16 July On 16 July, activist Hamza al-Hassan stated that al-Nimr had received a brief visit by his family during which officials stated that the purpose of the visit was to request al-Nimr's family to "calm the angry protestors". According to al-Hassan, al-Nimr had been tortured, and he had bruises on his face and broken teeth.

19 July On 19 July, al-Nimr's family said that al-Nimr had started a hunger strike.

On the same day, 180 Filipinos working in Saudi Arabia started a series of hunger strikes in Riyadh to protest against "illegal recruitment, abusive employers, and government neglect". "The Filipino workers complained of many contract violations, including high fees, poor accommodation and underpayment or nonpayment of salaries over 10 months to a year." Garry Martinez of Migrante International said that earlier protests in February 2012 had resulted in payment of unpaid wages to some of the workers.

22 July Al-Nimr's family visited him again on 22 July. They stated that he had been badly tortured, with signs of torture on his head, that he was continuing his hunger strike, and that he had weakened.

23 July A protest calling for political prisoners in al-Ha'ir Prison to be released and criticising the Saudi Arabian government took place in Buraidah on 23 July.

25 July Khaled al-Johani, who was imprisoned since his appearance at the 11 March 2011 "Day of Rage" protest in Riyadh, was given a temporary, 48 hours' release. His trial at the Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh, a court used for trying suspected members of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, is expected to continue.

A protest calling for political prisoners to be released and opposing the Saudi Arabian government took place in Riyadh in front of the Ministry of Interior on 25 July.

26–27 July On 26 July, an al-Awamiyah youth movement called for participation in a "We are all leopards (نمور, 'nimrs')" rally in support of al-Nimr. The group insisted on the use of nonviolent resistance, arguing that Saudi authorities wished to use protesters' violent actions as a legal basis for repressing the youth movement and of destroying international support for the movement.

The Qatif area "We are all leopards ('nimrs')" protest march took place on the evening of 26 July, from Revolution Street to Imam Ali Street, with 2000 participants according to protest organisers and 300 according to Ministry of Interior spokesperson Mansour al-Turki. The demonstrators called for al-Nimr's release and for the release of other detainees.

Following the protest march, "armoured vehicles started entering the city [and] protesters began to block roads with flaming tyres and throw Molotov cocktails". Security forces in the vehicles shot live ammunition at protesters after midnight, injuring 14 people, including Mohamed al-Shakhouri, according to witnesses interviewed by Thomson Reuters and Agence France Presse (AFP). Al-Shakhouri had bullet wounds in his back and neck according to the AFP witnesses. He was arrested and taken to a Dhahran military hospital. Ten others were also arrested. Mansour al-Turki stated that "there was no live firing and there weren't any injuries" and claimed that the arrests were unrelated to the political protest.

28 July Protests calling for political prisoners to be released and opposing the government took place in Riyadh and Mecca on 28 July.

30–31 July On the evening of 30 and 31 July 2000 people attended a funeral in Safwa for al-Nimr's wife, Muna Jabir al-Shariyavi, who had died in a New York hospital. Security forces tried to control details of the funeral. Funeral participants called for al-Nimr to be unconditionally freed, for all Shia and Sunni detainees to be freed, and chanted "Down with Hamad", "Bahrain Free Free, Peninsula Shield out".

August 2012

1–2 August On 1 August, the family of Mohamed Kazem Jaafar al-Shakhouri, arrested after the 26–27 July Qatif demonstration in support of al-Nimr, issued an appeal calling for family access, access to a lawyer and a fair trial for al-Shakhouri. In the evening, a demonstration calling for al-Shakhouri to be released took place.

3–4 August A human rights protest took place in Qatif on the evening of 3 August, with the death of a protester and a soldier. According to protesters, security forces shot at the demonstration in Revolution Street using live fire and "targeted everyone riding a motorbike", including Hussain Yusuf al-Qallaf (), an 18-year-old from Tarout Island, who was shot in the chest while riding his motorbike about four kilometres away, in al-Shwaika Street. Al-Qallaf died the following day.

Ministry of Interior spokesperson Mansour al-Turki stated that "A security patrol was exposed to heavy fire from four armed rioters on a motorbike when pausing at a street intersection in Qatif" and that soldier Hussein Bawah Ali Zabani died from the shooting.

Another Qatif protest took place on the evening of 4 August.

5–6 August Thousands of people attended a funeral for Hussain Yusuf al-Qallaf in Tarout Island on the evening of 5 August. The mourners protested against the killing and in support of Nimr al-Nimr. Another protest took place in Qatif the following evening.

9 August A protest took place in Ta'if on 9 August calling for the release of political prisoners and opposing human rights violations.

13 August According to a tweet by ACPRA co-founder Mohammad al-Qahtani, female family members of political prisoners held a sit-in in front of al-Ha'ir Prison calling for information about the prisoners' location.

15 August Protests calling for prisoners to be freed occurred in the Eastern Province and in Buraidah on 15 August.

18 August According to a tweet by Mohammad al-Qahtani, a sit-in for calling for political prisoners to be freed was held in Dammam by the prisoners' families.

19 August