The Saudi Court of Appeal increased the sentence of the Saudi thinker, Dr. Nasser Al-Omar from 10 years to 30 years in prison, with a four-year stay, according to Saudi activists.
In September 2021, the Specialised Criminal Court sentenced Al-Omar to 10 years in prison.
Al-Omar informed the judge of the Specialised Criminal Court that he had a special pardon from the King, but the judge stated that it did not include his old tweets, or hosting the Palestinian leader Khaled Meshaal.
Al-Omar, a university professor at the Faculty of Fundamentals of Religion at Imam Mohamed bin Saud Islamic University, was arrested by the authorities in early August 2018, for publishing tweets on social changes in the Kingdom.
The authorities summoned Al-Omar in September 2017, during the fierce campaign against opponents and critics of the policies of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The campaign targeted a number of preachers and academics, such as Dr. Salman Al-Awda, Dr. Awad Al-Qarni, the academic at the Higher Institute of the Judiciary, Abdulaziz Al-Fawzan, the Imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saleh Al-Talib, and Dr. Safar Al-Hawali, as well as Issam Al-Zamil, Abdullah Al-Maliki, Jamil Farsi, and Mustafa Al-Hassan, who was later released due to his cancer. The arrest campaign also included journalists and a number of female activists and human rights activists.
The Saudi authorities are imposing a blackout on the conditions of many detainees, however, news leaks confirm the deterioration of the health of many of them and being subjected to torture and ill-treatment.
A UN official has recently accused the Saudi authorities of human rights violations, using the fight against terrorism as a pretext for arbitrary detention and restricting the freedom of opinion and expression.
The Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Fionwala, published a report within the work of the 49th session of the Human Rights Council on secret detention in Saudi Arabia and reviewed the recommendations of a 2010 plan on combating terrorism while respecting human rights.
