Salma al-Shebab, who defended women’s rights, was arrested while on vacation in her home country.
in Britain a Saudi woman who was studying was sentenced to 34 years in prison while on vacation in her home country for following dissidents on the messaging service Twitter, reports include the British newspaper The Guardian and a US magazine The Washington Post.
A dental hygienist who did his PhD at the University of Leeds Salma al-Shebab had taken a leave of absence from research work in the winter of 2020 to bring her husband and two small children with her to Britain, reports The Guardian. That’s when he was arrested.
Al-Shebab was initially sentenced to three years in prison for using Twitter to “incite the people and undermine national security”. However, the court of appeals significantly increased the sentence on Monday to 34 years in prison, followed by a 34-year travel ban.
In practice, al-Shebab would spend its entire life as a prisoner in Saudi Arabia.
Judiciary justify the new sentence by saying that al-Shebab “helped those guilty of inciting the people and undermining national security” by monitoring their Twitter accounts and sharing their tweets, The Guardian reports.
For example, he supported a well-known Saudi feminist Loujain al-Hathloulia, who has been convicted of campaigning for women’s right to drive. Al-Hathloul is under a travel ban and has been tortured in prison.
However, Al-Shebab cannot be characterized as a significant activist. He had only 2,597 followers on Twitter and 159 followers on Instagram.
34 years the sentence and a 34-year travel ban is the longest sentence ever received by a women’s rights activist in Saudi Arabia, according to the US-based Freedom Initiative, according to The Washington Post. The newspaper published a blunt statement on Tuesday editorial on the subject.
The verdict was announced just weeks after the US president Joe Biden visited Saudi Arabia. Human rights activists warned that the visit might embolden the crown prince Mohammed bin Salmaniaknown for persecuting dissidents.
“The case offers yet another glimpse into the brutal dark side of the dictatorship of Saudi Arabia’s real ruler, Mohammed bin Salman,” writes The Washington Post.
According to US intelligence, bin Salman murdered a columnist for The Washington Post Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
Read more: In Saudi Arabia, Biden sought both to criticize Khashoggi’s murder and to assure his continued presence
Mohammed bin Salman owns a significant slice of Twitter through a Saudi investment company, and he has targeted active Twitter users.
The prince’s advisor Bader al-Asakeria is suspected of revealing the personal information of anonymous Twitter users to the Saudi leadership. The exposed Twitter users were sentenced to prison, but Bader al-Asaker was allowed to keep his verified Twitter account.
Twitter has not commented on the incident to The Guardian or The Washington Post.