Saudi Arabia’s Specialised Criminal Court has sentenced a woman to 45 years in prison for posting a series of messages on social media that “tear [the kingdom’s] social fabric” and “violate the public order.”
According to court documents obtained by the Washington DC-based human rights group, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), Nourah bint Saeed al-Qahtani broke Saudi anti-terrorism laws, including “disturbing public order” and “endangering national unity”.
DAWN is an organisation founded by Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post contributor who was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Turkey in 2018.
DAWN said it is releasing the news of Qahtani’s sentence to appeal to the public for more information on her case.
Details regarding Qahtani’s arrest and conviction have not yet been made public by the Specialised Criminal Court.
According to Abdullah Alaoudh, the director for the Gulf region at DAWN, Qahtani was arrested for “simply tweeting her opinions.”
“It is impossible not to connect the dots between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s meeting with President Biden last month in Jeddah and the uptick in the repressive attacks against anyone who dares criticise the crown prince or the Saudi government for well-documented abuses,” Alaoudh told The Guardian.
Qahtani does not appear to have a Twitter account in her own name, though it is believed she used a pseudonym to post her content on Twitter.
In recent years, several Saudi nationals have been detained and imprisoned for posting satirical or critical content mocking the Riyadh government on Twitter.
Earlier this month, a 34-year old woman was convicted and sentenced to 34 years in prison for following the Twitter accounts of people who “cause public unrest and destabilise civil and national security”.
Salma al-Shehab, a PhD student at Leeds University and mother of two, was detained after returning home to Saudi Arabia in January 2021.
She was also charged for retweeting posts by dissidents in exile.
A Saudi court heard that during her detention, Shehab was abused, harassed, and forcibly medicated.
On Monday this week, the US State Department announced it has raised “significant concerns” with Saudi authorities regarding Shehab’s case and was following the case “very closely”.
“We have made the point to them that freedom of expression is a universal human right to which all people are entitled and exercising those universal rights should never be criminalised,” Ned Price, the department’s spokesperson said.
Diana Semaan, Amnesty International’s Acting Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, called Shehab’s arrest “outrageous”.
“[Shehab] has been handed down such a cruel and unlawful punishment simply for using Twitter and retweeting activists who support women’s rights,” Semaan said.
“Salma al-Shehab should never have been convicted in the first place, but to have her sentence increased from six to 34 years following an unfair trial shows that the authorities intend to use her to set an example amid their unrelenting crackdown on free speech. She must be immediately and unconditionally released. The Saudi authorities must allow her to reunite to her family and to continue her studies in the UK.”
“Saudi Arabi must end its relentless crackdown on women’s rights activists and any others who dare to speak their mind freely. Women like Salma must be recognised and protected, not targeted for expressing their opinions. The authorities must also stop equating free speech with ‘terrorism’.”
“They should repeal or substantially amend Saudi’s counter-terrorism and anti-cybercrime laws, which criminalise dissent, and enact new laws that are fully compatible with international human rights law and standards.”