Britain urged to act over jailed Saudi activist
Robert Carter
Press TV, London
The British government is facing calls to press for the freedom of a young woman imprisoned in Saudi Arabia over her use of Twitter. Salma al-Shehab, the 34-yr-old mother of two, is a Saudi national who lived and studied in Britain before her arrest whilst visiting family inside Saudi Arabia in January 2021.
Salma’s original sentence was just three years. But earlier this month, an appeals court extended her term, sentencing her to 34 years in prison followed by a 34-year travel ban.
Her crime? A series of twitter posts and retweets about women’s rights and imprisoned activists in Saudi Arabia. Activists and lawyers consider her lengthy jail sentence as shocking and outrageous even by Saudi standards of justice.
An opposition Labour MP, Hillary Benn, confirmed via a twitter post he has sent a letter to Foreign Secretary and Tory leadership hopeful Liz Truss, demanding her intervention to help free the jailed student. This as earlier this year, Truss declined to criticize the kingdom for its poor human rights record, saying Riyadh is an important partner of the UK.
Critics express concern over not only Saudi rights abuses but western countries' double standards too.
Ever since Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, became Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader in 2017, the kingdom has become even more intolerant of any internal criticism and activism, jailing activists, bloggers, intellectuals and others for their political activism.
International condemnation has done little to stop Saudi's behavior, including the brutal killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018.
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