DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A retired instructor in Saudi Arabia was recently sentenced to death for tweeting complaints from the country’s leaders to his few followers, according to human rights activists and his family.
The sentencing of Mohammad Alghamdi, an elderly man in his fifties, is the latest in an ongoing crackdown on social media users in Saudi Arabia. While others are serving criminal sentences ranging from 20 to forty-five years for their tweets and online denunciations against the government, Alghamdi appears to be the first user sentenced to death solely for his posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, and his activity on YouTube.
The large-scale target of the complaints came as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pushed through delicate reforms that reformed life and eased restrictions for many others in the country. These sweeping reforms, such as allowing women to drive, ending strict gender regulations, segregation in public places, and opening the country to entertainment and tourism have coincided with an equally broad crackdown on dissent.
Alghamdi, a father of seven who lives in Mecca, had gained only 10 followers between the two anonymous accounts he managed on X. According to Human Rights Watch, he used the social networking site to publicize alleged government corruption, but basically shared messages through more popular government critics.
Platform X is one of the most popular social networking sites in Saudi Arabia. This was where the Saudis went to express their frustrations with government policies.
Lina Alhathloul, head of monitoring and advocacy at human rights organization ALQST, says that even if users were attacked and detained for their tweets, the platform was still something of a last frontier where Saudis could simply express their opinions, even anonymously.
“It was the last space where other people discussed social issues,” he said. “Everyone in the physical space, in real life, is self-censoring. They know they’re in danger, but other people think maybe on Twitter, especially with an unnamed account, they’re still safe. “
But even anonymous accounts are not part of the users of the Saudi demands. It is unclear how the Saudi government was able to determine Alghamdi’s identity in X.
In other cases, it appears that the identities of Saudi users have been leaked, exposing them to arrest and lengthy criminal sentences. An FBI complaint and a federal investigation in the United States led to the conviction last year of a former Twitter worker convicted of failing to sign as an agent for Saudi Arabia. He was also found guilty of accepting bribes in exchange for passing on confidential knowledge to users critical of the Saudi government.
Alhathloul said the message sent through all of them is clear.
“You are not, whatever you do, whoever you are. You just have to put on a muzzle,” he said.
She spoke to NPR from exile in Europa. Su sister, Loujain, is a prominent advocate for Saudi women’s rights who was detained for nearly three years for her activism until her release in 2021. Like other activists released in Saudi Arabia, she remains under arrest. a ban.
Alghamdi’s case is striking because of the probably very limited scope of his accounts of X, unlike the harsh sentence imposed on him. You can appeal the verdict.
Court documents reviewed by human rights activists and Human Rights Watch show that Alghamdi was sentenced to death on July 10 under the country’s vague anti-terrorism law for his social media accounts dedicated to crimes such as insulting the Saudi king or crown prince and supporting a terrorist ideology. .
He was convicted through the Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh. The court was set up 15 years ago to investigate terrorism cases, but it has also been used to prosecute government critics.
What prosecutors argue in those cases is that insulting or criticizing Saudi rulers poses a risk to national security and can destabilize society. Many of these trials take place behind closed doors.
The Saudi government did not respond to a request for comment from NPR on Alghamdi’s case. However, when officials in public forums are asked about the Saudi legal and judicial formula, they respond that the courts are independent or argue that reforming the formula in its entirety will take time.
Alghamdi’s brother, Saeed Alghamdi, believes the prosecution of his younger brother is aimed at targeting him. Saeed Alghamdi is a well-known Islamic scholar, connected to many of the kingdom’s most prominent jailed critics. He left Saudi Arabia in 2013 and founded the Saudi Arabia. human rights organization SANAD. He now lives in exile in the UK.
He said the Saudi government tried to convince him to return to the kingdom, promising him cash and a life if he backed him and stopped his activism abroad.
“They have to disappoint me because they have tried several times to convince me to come back,” he said. “When I refused, they resorted to that. That’s my interpretation of the situation. “
Although their claims may not be independently verifiable, there are known cases of reprisals against relatives of dissidents abroad.
“I surely have no goal of returning [to Saudi Arabia] as long as it goes on like this,” Saeed Alghamdi said.