Twilight News Edition 528
Edition 528, 31 August 2023
Saudi Man Receives Death Sentence Due to Social Media Activity
By Ahana Barthwal
A Saudi Court recently declared the death sentence on a man due to the posts he made on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, along with his Youtube activity. This case was the latest addition to the widening repercussions people in the country face, merely for talking about their defiance towards the government.
The case of the now convict, Mohammed bin Nasser al-Ghamdi, comes after a doctoral student and human rights activist, Salma al-Shehab, along with many others, faced lengthy prison sentences due to their online activity.
The charges against al-Ghamdi consist of “disturbing the security of society,” “betraying his religion,” “impugning the kingdom and the crown prince,” and “conspiring against the government” because he re-shared posts that were against the current government system, and critical of the ruler’s past actions.
Many have connected the dots to reach the consensus that this is all part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's efforts to dissipate any resistance in the kingdom, and send out a threatening message to those who don’t comply with the government, as he is currently working on massive diplomatic deals and other projects to raise his global profile.
According to Lina Alhathloul, head of monitoring and advocacy at ALQST, a London-based advocacy group, "Al-Ghamdi's death sentence over tweets is extremely horrific but stands in line with the Saudi authorities' escalating crackdown.”
The charge against Al-Ghamdi was put out by the Saudi Arabian specialised criminal court, which deals with terror cases, but also assesses charges against activists.
“Lengthy prison sentences issued for free speech, such as 27 years against Salma al-Shehab, have not received sufficient outcry, and the authorities have taken this as a green light to double down on their repression,” said Lina Alhathloul, adding, “They are sending a clear and sinister message — that nobody is safe and even a tweet can get you killed.”
The fact that the Saudi government went after an ordinary school teacher came as a surprise to many people. However, upon further investigation, it was revealed that Al-Ghamdi’s brother, Saeed bin Nasser al-Ghamdi, is a popular critic of the Saudi Arabian government, residing in the United Kingdom. According to him, “This false ruling aims to spite me personally after failed attempts by the investigators to have me return to the country.”
Joey Shea from the Human Rights Watch, claims that, “Repression in Saudi Arabia has reached a terrifying new stage when a court can hand down the death penalty for nothing more than peaceful tweets.”
A country just third to China and Iraq when discussing the world’s top executioners, Saudi Arabia is reaching a new degree of Human Rights violation.