The Saudi regime continues its violations of freedom of opinion and expression of activists, thinkers, scholars and academics, with complete disregard for their human rights or international and human rights criticism.
A Saudi court sentenced Saudi citizen Mohammed Al-Ghamdi to 30 years in prison, less than two months after overturning a previous death sentence, following his denunciation of corruption and human rights violations in Saudi.
Saudi dissident Saeed Al-Ghamdi told Agence France-Presse that “on Tuesday, the Court of Appeal decided to imprison my brother Mohammed for 30 years on the same charges of the overturned ruling.”
In July 2023, the Specialised Criminal Court, established in 2008 for terrorism cases, decided to sentence Al-Ghamdi to death on charges of sharing posts “disrupting the security of society and conspiring against the government” on his X account. Earlier last month, a Saudi appeals court had already overturned the death sentence.
AFP quoted human rights activists as saying that the case was based at least in part on posts criticising the government and supporting “prisoners of conscience,” like the imprisoned academics Salman Al-Awda and Awad Al-Qarni, noting that Al-Ghamdi’s account on X had only nine followers at the time of publication.
The case of retired Saudi teacher Mohammed Al-Ghamdi, 56, was regarded differently after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman himself confirmed the “truth” of the details of his case in a rare interview with the American Fox News network last September.
Last July, the same court sentenced Asaad, another brother of Al-Ghamdi, a teacher and father of six, the youngest of whom is a six-year-old girl, to 20 years in prison.
Al-Ghamdi’s arrest and 30-year sentence for expressing his opinion is a clear example of violation of human rights and freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia, and of the difficult conditions activists and human rights defenders face in countries that restrict freedom of expression.
The ongoing political arrests in Saudi Arabia require affirming the right of every individual to express his opinion and participate in public dialogue, without fear of arrest or punishment. The legal system should be respected and followed in any country respecting the principles of human rights and international humanitarian law that guarantee the protection of individuals from arbitrary arrest, torture, and cruel or inhuman treatment.
