Saudi Arabia to execute man for criticising government on X account with only 9 followers

Riyadh, Aug 29: In a shocking development, Saudi Arabia has reportedly sentenced to death Mohammed al-Ghamdi, a government critic, for denouncing alleged corruption and human rights abuses via his social media posts.

 

 

 

 

This came after a judgement was handed down by the nation's Specialised Criminal Court in July, the court that handles terrorism cases in the country. His tweets focused on unemployment, inflation, and government mismanagement of resources and called for the release of political prisoners.

 

 

Talking to AFP on Monday, al-Ghamdi's brother and other sources familiar with the case said that the case against the government critic was at least partially built on his posts on X, formerly Twitter, where he criticised the government and expressed support for "prisoners of conscience" or jailed religious clerics like Salman al-Awda and Awad al-Qarni.

 

It should be noted that Mohammed al-Ghamdi's X account, as per the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, had only nine followers.

 

"How can the world believe the country is reforming when a citizen is going to have his head cut off over tweets on an anonymous account with less than 10 followers?" questioned Lina al-Hathloul, head of monitoring and communication for the rights group ALQST.

 

"Saudi courts are escalating their repression and unveiling publicly their empty promises of reform," said al-Hathloul.

 

What were the charges against him?

 

The charges against Mohammed al-Ghamdi as per AFP include conspiracy against the Saudi leadership, undermining state institutions, and supporting terrorist ideology.

 

Mohammed's brother Saeed al-Ghamdi, who is a prominent religious scholar, said that the country's political climate "is polluted with repression, terror, and political arrests just for expressing an opinion, even with tweets or liking tweets criticising the situation."

 

The case has led to human rights activists pointing out Saudi Arabia's intensifying crackdown on criticism published on social media, even on accounts with few followers.

 

 

Saudi Arabia has been under radar for its human rights record and the prolific use of the death penalty. Last year, as per an AFP tally, the nation executed 147 people. This year, so far, there have been 94 executions.