Alarming crackdown on free speech online

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Over the past year, the Saudi authorities have intensified their brutal crackdown on people who use online spaces to express their views, Amnesty International said today.

The organization has documented 15 cases of people sentenced in 2022 to between 10 and 45 years in prison solely for peaceful online activities, including the longest sentence believed to have ever been handed to a Saudi woman for peaceful expression on Internet.

Saudi Arabia has also infiltrated at least one social media company to illegitimately obtain information on dissidents and control the information that is spread on the Internet about the country.

“Saudi Arabia has a long and notorious record of crackdowns on human rights defenders, journalists and members of civil society, now targeting ‘ordinary’ citizens peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression on the Internet. These outrageous sentences send a chilling reminder to all Saudi citizens and those living in the country that dissent will not be tolerated,” said Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa Director of Research and Advocacy at Amnesty International.

“At the same time, Saudi Arabia is trying to infiltrate Internet platforms to control the information that is published about the country and its leaders. These repressive tactics expose the hypocrisy of Saudi Arabia in organizing global events that seek to support the free flow of information on the Internet.

The 15 people were tried by the Specialized Criminal Court, originally created to judge cases of terrorism. To prosecute these individuals, the Court has used vague provisions under the cybercrime and terrorism laws that equate peaceful expression and Internet activity with “terrorism”. Amnesty International has documented how all stages of the judicial process of the Specialized Criminal Court are marred by human rights violations.

These individuals were subjected to various human rights violations during their detention, including incommunicado and solitary confinement, often for months at a time, and were denied access to legal counsel throughout their pre-trial detention. . Some of them have also been subjected to arbitrary travel bans, which is contrary to international human rights law.

The notable increase in the length of prison sentences imposed by the Specialized Criminal Court occurs after the appointment of a new judge as president of the court in June 2022. This person was part of the delegation sent by the Saudi authorities to Istanbul in October 2018 to allegedly clean up evidence of the murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian consulate , according to the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

Crackdowns on online expression are just one of the Saudi authorities’ tools to suppress dissent. As of February 2023, Amnesty has documented 67 cases of people on trial in Saudi Arabia for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, including human rights defenders, activists peaceful politician, journalists, poets and clergymen and others. Of these people, 32 were prosecuted for peacefully expressing their opinions on social media. Amnesty is aware that the actual number is likely to be much higher.

Activists and others jailed for posting tweets

The organization has reviewed court documents and has spoken with Saudi diaspora organizations and with family and friends of the 15 people who have been sentenced to long terms mainly for expressing themselves on social media.

Salma al-Shehab

PhD student at the University of Leeds (United Kingdom), mother of two and a member of Saudi Arabia’s Shia minority, in August 2022 the Specialized Criminal Court increased her initial sentence of 6 years in prison to 34 years on appeal, followed by a 34-year travel ban. She confiscated her mobile phone and was ordered to shut down her Twitter account. She was held in solitary confinement for 285 days and was denied access to a lawyer throughout her pre-trial detention. She was found guilty of using Twitter to support women’s rights activists like Loujain al Hathloul. Salma had about 2,000 followers.

Noura al Qahtani

On the same day that Salma al-Shehab was sentenced to 34 years in prison, the sentence of Noura al-Qahtani, almost 50, a Saudi Arabian mother of five children, was increased from 13 to 45 years in prison. She was also banned from traveling for 45 years, her mobile phone was confiscated and her Twitter account was closed. Amnesty International believes that this sentence is the longest ever for a Saudi woman for peaceful expression on the Internet.

Mahdia al-Marzougui

Mahdia al Marzougui is a Tunisian nurse residing in Saudi Arabia whose sentence was increased by the Specialized Criminal Court, from 3 years and 6 months to 15 years in prison, in September 2022, followed by deportation, for tweets in which she commented on events from Tunisia. She had fewer than 100 followers on Twitter. According to her family, Mahdia was also held in solitary confinement.

Saad Ibrahim Almadi

Saad Ibrahim Almadi is a 72-year-old Saudi-American citizen, retired engineer, and was arrested on a trip to Saudi Arabia on November 21, 2021. According to his family, he was held in solitary confinement for two months. On February 8, 2022, the Court of Appeal of the Specialized Criminal Court increased Saad’s prison sentence from 16 years and 2 months to 19 years, plus a travel ban of the same length. Saad was accused of a series of tweets critical of Saudi Arabia that he posted while he was in the United States. He had fewer than 200 followers on Twitter. His family has since learned that he fell into a coma during his confinement and needs urgent medical treatment.

Ten Egyptian Nubian men:

In October 2022, the Specialized Criminal Court sentenced 10 nubian egyptians, indigenous to an ethnic minority group from southern Egypt and northern Sudan, to between 10 and 18 years in prison on charges of posting material on social media and showing solidarity with a banned Islamist organization. A relative told Amnesty International that some of these men have serious health problems. Following the appeal of his lawyer, on February 2, 2023, the Specialized Criminal Court confirmed the prison sentences.

Mohammed al-Rabiah

A supporter of the right for women to drive cars in Saudi Arabia, Mohammed al Rabiah was arrested in May 2018 during a wave of crackdown on human rights defenders. The Specialized Criminal Court increased his prison sentence from 6 to 17 years in December 2022, according to activistsdespite having served his sentence in September 2022.

Twitter Infiltration

It is not known for certain how the Saudi government identified the individuals mentioned. supra nor why he decided to act against them. However, these recent prosecutions coincide with revelations that Saudi Arabian authorities have infiltrated Twitter to collect information on dissidents.

In December 2022, a US court found a former Twitter executive, Ahmad Abouammo, guilty of spying for Saudi Arabia, “accessing, following and transmitting confidential and sensitive information that could be used to identify and locate Twitter users of interest to the Saudi royal family”. According to him formal indictment, which Amnesty International has reviewed, Abouammo provided the names and information of Twitter accounts “that posted information critical of, or uncomfortable with, the Saudi royal family and the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.” In addition, the indictment states that a Saudi official contacted Abouammo and asked him to remove an account of a Twitter user who had “posted critical information about the Saudi royal family and a member of the Saudi royal family” and personal account information was shared.

“The Saudi authorities must immediately and unconditionally release all those detained for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression. Twitter should also carry out internal investigations to identify the impact of infiltration attempts by the Saudi authorities on its work, if it has not already done so, and make the results of its investigations public. It must also clearly state what steps it has taken to prevent such violations in the future,” said Philip Luther of Amnesty International.