14 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The NGO Amnesty International (AI) has warned this Tuesday of the increasing persecution of freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia, where fifteen people have been sentenced in the last twelve months to prison terms of between 10 and 45 years. for criticizing the authorities on social media.
Among them is the well-known case of Salma al Shehab, a student at the University of Leeds and mother of two children, sentenced to 34 years in prison for using her Twitter profile to defend women’s rights and activists such as Loujain al Hathloul.
AI’s head for the Middle East and North Africa, Philip Luther, recalled that although Saudi Arabia already has a “long history” of repression against fundamental freedoms, it has now focused on “ordinary citizens” who simply peacefully exercise their rights.
Luther has also warned that the Saudi authorities have infiltrated at least one social networking company to illegally obtain information about its users, in search of possible dissidents.
These new crackdowns on free expression in the Saudi kingdom send not only a “chilling reminder” that no dissent will be tolerated, but also expose the “hypocrisy” of a country that through global events claims to uphold free movement. of information online.
As of February 2023, Amnesty has documented 67 cases of people who had been prosecuted for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly, of which around thirty were prosecuted for expressing their opinions peacefully. However, the NGO affirms that the figure could be higher.
AI highlights that the “drastic increase” in the length of sentences follows the appointment of the new president of the court in charge of this type of alleged crimes, who was one of the members of the commission sent by Saudi Arabia to Turkey in October 2018 to investigate the death of journalist Yamal Jashogi, murdered and dismembered at the Saudi Embassy in Istanbul.
In addition to the aforementioned Al Shehab, fourteen other people have been sentenced to prison terms by the Specialized Criminal Court, created to judge cases of terrorism, but which has been resolving alleged cybercrime cases.
Some of these people had a symbolic repercussion in networks, with barely a hundred followers, as is the case of Mahdia al Marzougui, a 51-year-old Tunisian woman, mother of four children, sentenced to fifteen years in prison and later deportation for commenting on Twitter political affairs of your country.
Another case is that of Noura al Qahtani, a 50-year-old Saudi woman who has been sentenced to 45 years in prison for expressing herself peacefully on social networks. Amnesty maintains that it is the highest sentence ever imposed on a woman for crimes of this type.
More punished are Mohammed al Rabiá, active in networks defending the right of women to drive in Saudi Arabia with a prison sentence of 17 years; Saad Ibrahim Almadi, arrested on his return from the United States for Twitter messages critical of the Saudi kingdom and sentenced to 19 years for it; and ten Nubian Egyptians for networking with “a banned Islamist organization.”
