Salma al-Shehab has been sentenced to 34 years in prison in Saudi Arabia.
al-Shehab was a candidate for a doctoral degree at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom when she was arrested in Saudi Arabia in January 2021. Her stay in Saudi Arabia was supposed to be for vacation.
She was then sentenced to six years of imprisonment based on her social media activities, stating that they were meant to disturb public order and destabilize the security and stability of the state.
The charges pressed on her were based on having reshared tweets from Saudi activists living in exile who called for the release of political prisoners in the kingdom.
Salma al-Shehab's Tweets
Salma al-Shehab, who is 34 years old and has two small children, is currently pursuing a doctoral degree at the University of Leeds. The first time she was imprisoned was due to having used her Twitter account as a social media platform that favors women's rights.
Her profile displayed a few shared posts, which indicated that she followed and retweeted political activists and dissidents.
According to The Guardian, al-Shehab, "was initially sentenced to serve three years in prison for the crime of using an internet website to cause public unrest and destabilize civil and national security."
On the other hand, an appeals court handed down the fresh sentence on Monday, following a request by the public prosecutor that the court take into consideration other suspected offenses. This appeal ultimately led to the defendant receiving a sentence of 34 years in jail, followed by a 34-year ban on travel.
The Guardian translated the new charges, which state that she was "assisting those who seek to cause public unrest and destabilize civil and national security by following their Twitter accounts and by re-tweeting their tweets."
It is assumed that al-Shehab may yet have the opportunity to file a new appeal on the matter.
The Verge prosecutors in Shehab's case sought a more harsh punishment under Saudi cybercrime and anti-terrorism legislation during the appeal of his case. This resulted in a significantly enhanced sentence of 34 years.
According to the non-profit organization known as the Freedom Initiative, which fights for the rights of those who are imprisoned in the Middle East, this is the longest sentence that has ever been handed down in Saudi Arabia to a women's rights campaigner.
Who is Salma al-Shehab
According to reports, Shehab was not a prominent or particularly outspoken Saudi activist either within the kingdom or in the UK. On her Instagram account, which had 159 followers, she introduced herself as a dental hygienist, a medical educator, and a lecturer at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University. She also mentioned that she was a wife and a mother to her kids, Noah and Adam.
According to her Twitter profile, she had 2,597 followers. al-Shehab would sometimes share tweets from Saudi dissidents living in exile, who campaigned for the liberation of political prisoners in the kingdom.
She seems to support the case of Loujain al-Hathloul, who is a renowned Saudi feminist activist who was previously imprisoned, is reported to have been tortured for promoting driving rights for women, and is now living under a travel ban because of her beliefs.
