Rights group: Saudi woman jailed 45 years over social media posts

A Saudi woman has been jailed for 45 years for her social media posts, a rights group said citing court documents, marking the second such case in weeks.

Nourah al-Qahtani received the heavy sentence on appeal after she was convicted of “using the internet to tear the (country’s) social fabric” and “violating public order” via social media, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) said.

Few details were available about Qahtani, who did not appear to have an active Twitter account. She was arrested in July 2021 and convicted by the Specialised Criminal Court, DAWN said, adding that her appeal was earlier this month.

“Only weeks after this month’s shocking 34-year sentence of Salma al-Shehab, Qahtani’s 45-year sentence, shows how emboldened Saudi authorities feel to punish even the mildest criticism from its citizens,” said Abdullah Alaoudh, DAWN’s Director of Research for the Gulf Region.

Saudi Arabia is using a secretive special court set up for terrorism-related cases to systematically prosecute human rights activists and other dissenting voices who defy the country’s absolute monarchy, a new report has found, according to the Guardian.