Retired Teacher Receives Death Sentence in Saudi Arabia for Tweets
Muhammad al-Ghamdi/Image:Human Rights Watch
A Saudi court sentenced retired teacher Muhammad al-Ghamdi, 54, to death over 5 tweets criticizing corruption and human rights violations.
According to Human Rights Watch, Muhammad al-Ghamdi was arrested last year and given little access to a lawyer before his conviction in July “under article 30 of Saudi Arabia’s counterterrorism law for ‘describing the King or the Crown Prince in a way that undermines religion or justice,’ article 34 for ‘supporting a terrorist ideology,’ article 43 for ‘communication with a terrorist entity,’ and article 44 for publishing false news ‘with the intention of executing a terrorist crime.’”
Tweets, retweets, and YouTube activity were all used as evidence to convict him.
Al-Ghamdi’s brother,
