9 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced on Tuesday that an anti-terrorism court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a Saudi professor to 20 years in prison for posting critical messages on social media, an example that represents “another escalation in the country’s increasingly worsening repression of freedom of expression.”
Saudi security forces arrested Asad al-Ghamdi, 47, on November 20, 2022, in a nighttime raid on his home in the Jeddah neighborhood. Authorities placed him in solitary confinement for three months in Dhahban prison and he was held incommunicado for nearly two months.
Among the social media messages used during the trial against Al Ghamdi – who was not allowed to receive visits from his family until January 11, 2023 – were criticisms of the Vision 2030 program to diversify the country’s economy or his regret at the death of activist Abdullah al Hamid.
Saudi authorities did not inform the professor of the charges against him until the first session of the trial, held on September 7, 2023. In late August, the court appointed a lawyer, who subsequently refused to provide him or his family with any court documents related to the case.
According to HRW, the lawyer refused to present evidence of the health of Al Ghamdi, who suffers from epilepsy, to the court despite the insistence of his family. During his detention, the Saudi professor has not received medical care.
A source told the NGO that during one episode of his illness he spent hours in the bathroom. “He had a spasm, fell and broke his finger and tooth,” he said, adding that the authorities later took him to a prison doctor, although he did not receive specialist care.
Court documents reviewed by HRW show that authorities charged the professor under Articles 30, 34, 43 and 44 of the Saudi anti-terrorism law – the same articles used in July 2023 to sentence his brother, Mohamed al Ghamdi, to death.
Several sources have told HRW that Mohamed also suffers from epilepsy and his health has deteriorated significantly since being detained. Repeatedly denied medical care, he saw a doctor who did not provide him with any medication.
His other brother, Said bin Naser al Ghamdi, who is in exile in the United Kingdom, said on social media that the ruling against Mohamed was in retaliation for “failed attempts by investigations” to get him to return to Saudi Arabia.
“Saudi Arabia’s allies should condemn these sentences and demand that the government release the prisoners and end its repressive practices,” said Joey Shea, HRW’s researcher for the Gulf country.
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