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According to activists, the Saudi PhD student at Leeds University was released from Saudi -Arabian prison at Leeds University.
Salma Al-Hehab, a 36-year-old two-year-old mother, was arrested in 2021 while they were vacationed in the Gulf King.
Later, for six years, a terrorist court put him in prison, allegedly “disturbing public order” and “destabilizing social fabric” over comments requiring reforms and activists.
The penalty was increased to 34 years before being reduced twice in appeal – first to 27 years, then four years, with another four years suspension. The Saudi authorities did not receive immediate confirmation.
The release of Shehab was first announced by Alqst, the United Kingdom -based Saudi legal group, stating that “four years of arbitrary imprisonment was subjected to peaceful activism”.
“Your full freedom must now be given, including the right to complete his studies at Leeds University,” he added.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, has overseeed the widespread action of the difference in the last eight years, and peaceful criticisms of social media have issued long prison sentences or even death penalty for terrorist court proceedings. Let’s say they are unfair.
Shehab, a tooth hygiene and medical instructor, who sent or re -published several messages in the last year of his studies at the Leeds University School of Medicine and called on outstanding activists, priests and other intellectuals before traveling five years ago.
One of the messages praised as “prisoners of conscience” was a group of senior female legal activists who were directly abolished in 2018 by women’s leadership ban and later convicted of crimes against the state.
Amnesty International’s close -to -east researcher Dana Ahmed said shehab was convicted of terrorism “just because he tweeted women’s rights to support Saudi women’s rights.”
“While the day to celebrate Salma’s release today, it is also an opportunity to think about many others that serve similarly long sentences for Saudi -Arabia for their online activities,” he added.
“This includes other women such as Manahel al-Otaibi and Nourah al-Qahtani, who were taken to prison for speaking women’s rights, and Abdulrahman al-Sadhan, for 20 years for satirical tweets.”
The BBC contacted the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at Leeds University.
