A woman from Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to 34 years in prison for retweeting activists on her Twitter account and sharing recordings of their speeches in support of women’s right to drive. Salma al-Shahab was a PhD candidate at the University of Leeds in England and was arrested after returning to Saudi Arabia on holiday in January 2021.
Shehab was initially sentenced to six years for using social media to “disturb public order and destabilize the security and stability of the state,” based on having reshared tweets from Saudi activists living in exile who called for the release of political prisoners in the kingdom.
The incident was reported in an editorial board piece from The Washington Post, which called it “yet another glimpse at the brutal underside of the Saudi dictatorship under its crown prince and de facto head of state, Mohammed bin Salman.”
Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, was found by US intelligence services to have directly approved the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist who was assassinated in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. The Post reports that prosecutors in Shahab’s case are arguing for a harsher sentence in the appeals court, leading to a steep increase to the 34-year prison sentence on August 8 under Saudi cybercrime and anti-terrorism laws. The Freedom Initiative, a non-profit organization that advocates for the rights of prisoners in the Middle East, said it was the longest known sentence for women’s rights activists in Saudi Arabia. The harsh punishment is a reminder of the constant threats Saudi activists face, especially those who publicly support change. In July, President Joe Biden was criticized by right-wing groups for his visit to Saudi Arabia, which he argued in a post about access to energy resources and strategic trade routes in the region. During the trip, Biden said he told Saudi officials that MBS was responsible for Khashoggi’s assassination, although various sources disputed that claim.
According to The Guardian in the Shahab case, MBS indirectly controls a significant share of Twitter through the Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. Twitter has not yet released a statement on the matter.
Other prominent Twitter shareholders are also linked to Saudi fortunes: Elon Musk believed text messages released as part of a Tesla shareholder complaint would help PIF take Tesla private in 2018.
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