Saudi woman sentenced to 34 years in prison for following, retweeting dissidents on Twitter
India Today
34-years old Salma al-Shehab, a PhD student from Leeds University, has been charged for following and retweeting dissidents and activists on Twitter. Here's the full story.
A Saudi woman has been sentenced to 34 years in prison for using Twitter. As reported by the Guardian, 34-years old Salma al-Shehab has been put behind bars for following and retweeting dissidents and activists.
Salma al-Shehab, a PhD student from the University of Leeds in UK, said to have returned home for holidays and that’s when she was booked for “assisting those who seek to cause public unrest and destabilize civil and national security by following their Twitter accounts”.
The special terrorist court initially sentenced Salma al-Shehab to three years imprisonment for using the social media platform, cited as a “crime”. As per the court, her actions “cause public unrest and destabilize civil and national security”.
On Monday, a public prosecutor asked the appeal court to consider her other alleged crimes, which made the court revise her imprisonment to 34 years with a travel ban for another 34 years.
The translation of the court records cited the new charges based on the other allegations about Shehab including “assisting those who seek to cause public unrest and destabilize civil and national security by following their Twitter accounts” and retweeting them.
The report also suggested that Shehab, who is the mother of two young children, might seek a new appeal in the case against the ruling. A person related to her said that Shehab will fight for “injustice”.
She was pursuing her PhD at Leeds in the UK and between 2018-19 came back home for holidays. While she was planning to bring her husband and children back to the UK with her, she was questioned by Saudi authorities who later arrested and tried for her tweets.
