Tweets of a Saudi woman have landed her to 34 years of jail sentence, reportedly the longest ever given to a women’s rights activist. A Washington DC- based non-profit organisation, The Freedom Initiative said in a statement on Friday that a Saudi terrorism court has convicted a women’s rights activist to 34 years in prison, accompanied by a 34-year travel ban because of tweets she posted hailing basic rights in the country.
Salma al-Shehab, mother of two and a resident of the United Kingdom, was on a holiday trip to Saudi Arabia. Days before she could return, she was detained. “In January 2021, the mother of two young boys, aged 4 and 6, was detained while on vacation in Saudi Arabia days before she had planned to return to her residence in the United Kingdom, where she was a PhD candidate at the University of Leeds. Salma comes from the Shia Muslim minority, who have long-faced discrimination in Saudi Arabia,” the statement reads.
The arrest came after Salma supported women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul and called for her freedom on her social media account. Salma was originally sentenced for 6 years, which got raised to 34 years during the appeal.
Loujain al-Hathloul is a notable women’s rights activist who has worked to end the ban on women drivers in Saudi Arabia. After spending over 1000 days in prison, she was released from jail just weeks after Salma’s detention. Though released from jail, she is still under a travel ban as an accused of harming national security.
{{/usCountry}}Loujain al-Hathloul is a notable women’s rights activist who has worked to end the ban on women drivers in Saudi Arabia. After spending over 1000 days in prison, she was released from jail just weeks after Salma’s detention. Though released from jail, she is still under a travel ban as an accused of harming national security.
{{/usCountry}}This comes amid rising instances of human rights violation allegations under the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. “Saudi Arabia has boasted to the world that they are improving women’s rights and creating legal reform, but there is no question with this abhorrent sentence that the situation is only getting worse. It is unfortunately no surprise that MbS feels more empowered than ever in presiding over such egregious rights violations,” said Dr. Bethany Al-Haidari, the Saudi case manager at the Freedom Initiative.
Terming that tweeting in solidarity with women’s rights activists is not a crime, the press release appealed to the Saudi authorities to free her so that she can take care of her children and complete her studies in the UK. It petitioned for international community support for the case and to pressurise Saudi Arabia for ‘true’ reform on women’s rights.