With around 2,600 subscribers on Twitter, Salma al-Chehab, aged 34, regularly relayed messages in favor of women’s rights in the kingdom.
Le Monde With AFP
The Alqst human rights organization, based in London, denounced in a press release “the longest penalty of imprisonment ever inflicted by the Saudi authorities on a peaceful activist”.
A Saudi tribunal condemned Salma al-Chehab, a student, to a sentence of thirty-four years in prison with a ban on leaving her country for a similar duration after his release of detention, according to a judicial document consulted by the France-Presse agency Wednesday August 17. His crime? “Have provided help to those who seek to disturb public order and disseminate false and malicious information”, by “writing and publishing tweets” on his personal account.
With approximately 2,600 subscribers on Twitter, Salma al-Chehab, 34, regularly relayed messages in favor of women’s rights in the ultra-conservative kingdom.
according to The Guardian , these are essentially retweets of Saudi dissident messages calling for the release of political prisoners. The British daily notes that the student seemed in particular to support Loujain al-Hathloul, imprisoned several years for having campaigned for women’s right to drive. Twitter did not comment on the case.
Saudi Woman Given 34-Year Prison Sentence for Using Twitter https://t.co/65uyxld6ef
possible dispute before the Supreme Court
Doctoral student in dental medicine at the University of Leeds in England and mother of two, Salma al-Chehab had been arrested in January 2021 while she was on vacation in Saudi Arabia.
In June 2022, a court had sentenced him to first instance to six years in prison, three of which were suspended, a sentence considerably increased by the judgment rendered on August 9. The judgment on appeal can be challenged within thirty days before the Supreme Court.
Under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Salmane, Saudi Arabia has given new rights to women, such as driving or traveling alone. The kingdom is however regularly pinned by NGOs for serious human rights violations, in particular its repression against political and militant feminist dissidents.