The doctoral student and women’s rights activist Salma al-Shehab has been sentenced to 34 years in prison in Saudi Arabia. The reason: she had repeatedly spoken out in favor of women’s rights on Twitter and shared posts by dissidents.
34 years imprisonment. Plus 34 years travel ban. The doctoral student and mother Salma al-Shehab received this punishment in Saudi Arabia. Her alleged crime: standing up for fundamental and women’s rights on Twitter. This is reported by the US NGO and the British newspaper.
It is the longest prison sentence imposed on a Saudi women’s rights defender and marks “an escalation of MBS’ crackdown on dissent,” the NGO said. MBS refers to the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
“Saudi Arabia has bragged to the world about improving women’s rights and creating legal reforms, but with this abominable verdict there is no question that the situation is only going to get worse,” said Dr. Bethany Al-Haidari from the Freedom Initiative.
NGO calls for the release of Salma al-Shehab
“Unfortunately, it comes as no surprise that MbS feels more empowered than ever to preside over such egregious violations of rights.” She demanded that the Saudi authorities release Salma and ensure that her sons do not grow up without her “simply because she demanded freedom for human rights activists”.
34-year-old Salma al-Shehab, mother of two boys aged four and six, was arrested in January 2021 while vacationing in Saudi Arabia. She had planned to return to the UK where she completed her PhD as a PhD student at Leeds University.
Salma comes from the Shia Muslim minority, which has long faced discrimination in Saudi Arabia, according to the Freedom Initiative.
The reason given for Salma’s sentence was her social media account, in which she supported women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul and called for her release. Although Salma was initially sentenced to six years in the first instance, the sentence was increased to 34 years on appeal. This is the longest known sentence for a women’s rights activist in Saudi Arabia, reports the Freedom Initiative.
Salma al-Shehab is said to have supported “public unrest”.
According to a translation of court documents seen by The Guardian, the new charges included allegations that Shehab “supported those who seek to cause public disorder and destabilize civil and national security by following their Twitter accounts ” and retweet their tweets.
Shehab did not have a particularly large number of followers, as the newspaper writes. There are 159 followers on Instagram and more than 2,500 on Twitter.
“Tweeting in solidarity with women’s rights activists is not a crime and Saudi Arabia must be held accountable,” Bethany Al-Haidari commented on the verdict. After all, according to the Guardian, Shehab may have the option of another appeal.”
The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights also condemned Shehab’s conviction. Many activists have been subjected to unfair trials, resulting in arbitrary convictions and “severe torture”, including sexual harassment.
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Source: Stern
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