Salma Al-Shehab, a Saudi student at the University of Leeds in the UK, was sentenced to 34 years in prison for having a Twitter account, and following and disseminating the publications of dissidents and activists against Saudi Arabia, when she returned home. This summer to go on vacation.
to begin with, According to the Guardian newspaper,Salma was sentenced to three years in prison for the “crime” of using a website to “incite public disturbances and disturb civil and national security.” But on Monday, at the prosecutor’s request to look into other crimes, a secondary court handed down a new ruling: 34 years in prison followed by a 34-year travel ban.
According to the English newspaper, which obtained a translation of court records, the new charges include the allegation that Chehab was “helping those who seek to foment public disturbances and destabilize civil and national security by following his Twitter accounts” and sharing your data. Tweets.
In a brief consultation on the social networks of the 34-year-old Saudi woman, mother of two, Shehab does not seem to have an active profile, and on Instagram she shows her personal life more, presenting herself as an oral hygienist and a doctor. student. Already on Twitter, there are some shares of Saudi dissidents living in exile, who are calling for the release of political prisoners in the kingdom.
To the Guardian, Twitter declined to comment on the issue, after journalist Stephanie Kirchgesner confronted her about the potential influence of Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who owns more than 5% of the social network via Kingdom Holding Company.
The case comes just weeks after Joe Biden’s heavily criticized visit to Saudi Arabia, where many activists confronted the President of the United States of America with various human rights violations by the regime of Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
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