The conviction by Saudi Arabia’s special terrorism court came weeks after US President Joe Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia, which human rights activists had warned could encourage the kingdom to escalate its crackdown on dissidents and other pro-government activists. of democracy. The case also marks the latest example of how Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has targeted Twitter users in his crackdown campaign, while also controlling a significant indirect stake in the US social media company through Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. of Arabia, of the Public Investment Fund (PIF). ). Salma al-Shehab, 34, a mother of two young children, was initially sentenced to three years in prison for the “crime” of using a website to “cause public unrest and destabilize political and national security”. But an appeals court on Monday handed down the new sentence – 34 years in prison followed by a 34-year travel ban – after a prosecutor asked the court to consider other alleged crimes. According to a translation of court records seen by the Guardian, the new charges include an allegation that Shehab “aided those who sought to cause public unrest and destabilize politics and national security by following their Twitter accounts” and by retweeting their tweets. It is believed that Shehab may still be able to seek a fresh appeal in the case. Salma al-Shehab and her family. Photo: ESOHR By all accounts, Shehab was not a leading or particularly vocal Saudi campaigner, either within the kingdom or in the UK. She described herself on Instagram – where she had 159 followers – as a dental hygienist, medical educator, PhD student at Leeds University and lecturer at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, and as a wife and mother to sons Noah and Adam. Her Twitter profile showed she had 2,597 followers. Between tweets about Covid burnout and photos of her young children, Shehab sometimes posted tweets from Saudi dissidents living in exile calling for the release of political prisoners in the kingdom. She appeared to support the case of Loujain al-Hathloul, a prominent Saudi feminist activist who was previously jailed, allegedly tortured for advocating for women’s driving rights and now lives under a travel ban. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. A person who knew Shehab said she could not bear the injustice. She was described as well-educated and an avid reader who had arrived in the UK in 2018 or 2019 to pursue her PhD at Leeds. She had returned home to Saudi Arabia in December 2020 for a holiday and had intended to bring her two children and husband back to the UK with her. She was then called in for questioning by Saudi authorities and eventually arrested and tried for her tweets. A person who watched her case said Shehab had been kept in solitary confinement at times and had tried during her trial to tell the judge privately about the way she had been treated, something she did not want to say in front of her father. She was not allowed to share the message with the judge, the person said. The appeal decision was signed by three judges but the signatures were illegible. Twitter declined to comment on the case and did not respond to specific questions about what — if any — influence Saudi Arabia has over the company. Twitter previously did not respond to questions from the Guardian about why a senior aide to Prince Mohammed, Bader al-Asaker, has been allowed to maintain a verified Twitter account with more than 2 million followers, despite US government allegations that he orchestrated illegal infiltration of the company that led to anonymous Twitter users being identified and jailed by the Saudi Arabian government. A former Twitter employee was convicted by a US court in connection with the case. One of Twitter’s biggest investors is Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who owns more than 5% of Twitter through his investment company, Kingdom Holdings. While Prince Alwaleed still serves as the company’s chairman, his control of the group has been questioned in the US media, including the Wall Street Journal, after it was revealed that the Saudi king – a cousin of the crown prince – had been held captive at The Ritz Carlton in Riyadh for 83 days. The incident was part of a wider purge led by Prince Mohammed against other royals and businessmen, and included allegations of torture, coercion and the expropriation of billions in Saudi coffers. In a 2018 Bloomberg interview Prince Alwaleed conducted in Riyadh seven weeks after his release, the billionaire acknowledged that he had reached a “confirmed understanding” with the Saudi government, apparently in connection with his release, the which was confidential. Most recently, Kingdom Holding announced in May that it had sold about 17 percent of its company to PIF, where Prince Mohammed serves as chairman, for $1.5 billion. This, in turn, makes the Saudi government a significant indirect investor in Twitter. According to Twitter, investors play no role in managing the day-to-day operations of the company. Saudi Arabia’s European Organization for Human Rights condemned Shehab’s sentence, which it said was the longest prison term ever handed down to an activist. He noted that many female activists have been subjected to unfair trials resulting in arbitrary sentences and have been subjected to “severe torture”, including sexual harassment. Khalid Aljabri, a Saudi living in exile whose sister and brother are detained in the kingdom, said the Shehab case proved Saudi Arabia’s view that dissent equals terrorism. “Salma’s draconian conviction in a terrorism court for peaceful tweets is the latest manifestation of MBS’s ruthless repression machine,” he said, referring to the crown prince. “Exactly like [journalist Jamal] Khashoggi’s murder, her conviction is meant to send shockwaves inside and outside the kingdom – dare to criticize MBS and you’ll end up dismembered or in Saudi dungeons.” Although the case has not received widespread attention, the Washington Post published a scathing article on Tuesday about Saudi Arabia’s treatment of the Leeds student and said her case showed that the president’s “commitments” to the reforms were a “hoax”. “At the very least, Mr Biden should now speak out and demand that Ms Shehab be released and allowed to return to her sons, aged 4 and 6, in the UK and continue her studies there.” reading. Additional reporting by Robyn Vinter in Leeds
