TYRANNICAL

Saudi Academic Faces Death Over Twitter, WhatsApp Usage

It could be one of harshest sentences yet for those critical of Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s regime.

A pro-reform Saudi Arabian law professor’s large social media following has prompted the country’s prosecutors to seek a sentence usually imposed for violent crimes or drug offenses: death. Awad Al-Qarni, 65, was arrested over his Twitter and WhatsApp usage in 2017 as part of Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s crackdown on dissidents, though his potential sentence could be the harshest yet for those critical of the Saudi regime. Salma al-Shehab, a Ph.D student, was given a 34-year prison sentence last year for using a Twitter account to amplify other activists. Noura al-Qahtani, a 50-year-old mother of five, was sentenced to 45 years in prison last year for using Twitter to criticize the draconian prince. A judge has not yet ruled on Al-Qarni’s case. Bin Salman promised in 2018 to minimize the use of the death penalty, but the years since have led to Saudi Arabia’s largest mass executions ever.