Saudi activist sentenced to 34 years in prison for criticizing tweets

BEIRUT — Saudi Arabia quietly sentenced a woman to 34 years in prison for her actions on Twitter last week rice field. It is unprecedented for peaceful activists, sparking a new wave of fear among government detractors, human rights groups said.

January 2021 Salma, a woman Al-Shehab was detained while on holiday in Saudi Arabia, just days before Saudi citizen Salma Al-Shehab, the mother of two children, returned to her home in the UK, human rights groups detained her. she said. The charges faced by the 33-year-old woman all relate to her Twitter activity, the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR) has reviewed court documents and spoke to a friend of hers.

Shehab took to social media platforms during a campaign calling for the abolition of the state guardianship system, which gives men legal control over certain aspects of the lives of their female relatives. I was very active. She also called for the release of Saudi prisoners of conscience. He was charged with spreading sedition, aiding those seeking to disrupt public order, and spreading false and malicious rumors. on her Twitter.

The accusation is well-known: sowing sedition and destabilizing the state are frequently used accusations against activists in the Kingdom who oppose the status quo. Saudi Arabia has long invoked anti-terrorism laws against citizens whose protests are deemed unacceptable, especially when criticizing its de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

In late 2021, the first sentence against Shehab sentenced her to six years in prison. But when she appealed, it was extended to 34 - the country's longest sentence against a peace activist, according to several human rights groups.

The sentence included a 34-year travel ban. and the closure of her Twitter account, said Lina al-Hathloul, head of surveillance and communications at London-based Saudi rights group ALQST. “Now we are working not to shut Twitter down, or at least let them know that if they are asked to shut it down, it is from the Saudi government and not from her.”

In a statement on Tuesday, the ESOHR said its decision to sentence Shehab under the Anti-Terrorism Act "could prevent Saudi Arabia from treating people who demand and criticize reforms on social networks as terrorists." It confirms that there are

The group said the ruling set a dangerous precedent and said Saudi Arabia's widely praised efforts to modernize the kingdom and improve women's rights were "not serious." It shows that it is within the scope of the whitewashing campaign it is conducting,” he said.

Shehab is a PhD student at the University of Leeds in the UK and a lecturer at Princess Noora University in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. The oral and dental health professionals belong to the Shia sect of Islam, considered a heretic by many hardline Sunni Muslims.

Saudi Arabia has often been criticized for its treatment of the Shia minority. Earlier this year, New York-based Human Rights Watch said in its annual report on human rights that the kingdom

Shehab was last active on Twitter on January 13, 2021, two days before his arrest. , she retweeted a classic Arabic song about losing the company of a loved one.

On her still-active Twitter page, the pinned tweet that concludes her activity asks for forgiveness if she has unknowingly sinned against another human being. It is a prayer asking God to reject injustice and help those who face it.

The tweet ended with "Freedom to prisoners of conscience and all the oppressed in the world."