Saudi woman sentenced to 34 years in prison for her Twitter activity

She went home for a vacation. Now a Saudi woman is facing 34 years in prison for sharing her views on social media, human rights groups say, in a case, they have condemned as the latest worrying sign of the kingdom’s crackdown on dissent.

Salma al-Shehab, a 34-year-old mother of two, was an active Twitter user while studying for a doctoral degree at the University of Leeds School of Medicine in the United Kingdom. She posted her own tweets about human rights issues as well as retweeted activists.

Al-Shehab, who is a Saudi citizen, was arrested while visiting her home in January 2021, according to multiple human rights groups based in Europe and the United States.

After initially being sentenced to six years in jail, the sentence was increased to a record 34 years earlier this month following her appeal, the rights groups said. Al-Shehab was also slapped with a 34-year travel ban that will take effect following her release, they said.

The charges against her included sedition and spreading false and malicious rumors on Twitter, according to the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights, a Berlin-based group critical of the Saudi government.

“They charged her for 34 years over 280 characters,” Nada Zamel, ESOHR’s head of advocacy, told NBC News.

She said the tweets that got al-Shehab into trouble were relatively anodyne, expressing support for freedom of speech and the lifting of rules that limit freedom for women in Saudi Arabia.

Zamel added that the sentence raises concerns about other activists facing similar charges.

Given the harsh sentence for an account with only around 2,000 followers, Zamel said, “imagine what will happen to other activists who were arrested in the same period.” Though she noted that al-Shehab can still appeal to the Saudi supreme court.

The Freedom Initiative, a Washington, D.C.-based group that advocates for prisoners in the Middle East and North Africa, said it had seen court documents that showed she had complained of abuse and threats while in detention due to her background as a Shia Muslim, a minority community in Saudi Arabia.

“Al-Shehab, who comes from the Shia Muslim minority, also said she faced sectarian harassment, including insults to her religion and family,” the group said in a press release, adding that this suggested, “religious discrimination may have played a role in her draconian sentencing.”

The Saudi Embassy in London and the Saudi Ministry of Media did not respond to requests for the details of and comment on al-Shehab’s case. NBC News has also reached out to the Saudi embassy for comment on the allegations that Al-Shehab was abused while in detention.

A spokesperson from the University of Leeds said in a statement: “We are deeply concerned to learn of this recent development in Salma’s case and we are seeking advice on whether there is anything we can do to support her. Our thoughts remain with Salma, her family, and her friends among our close-knit community of postgraduate researchers.”