A prominent pro-reform law professor in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to death for alleged crimes including having a Twitter account and using WhatsApp to share news deemed “hostile” to the kingdom, according to court documents seen by The Guardian.
The arrest of Awad Al-Qarni, 65, in September 2017 marked the beginning of a crackdown on dissent by then-newly appointed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Details of the charges brought against Al-Qarni have now been shared with The Guardian by his son Nasser, who fled the kingdom last year and lives in the UK, where he said he is seeking asylum protection.
Al-Qarni has been portrayed in the Saudi-controlled media as a dangerous preacher, but dissidents have said Al-Qarni was a well-regarded and important intellectual with a large following on social media, including 2 million Twitter followers.
Human rights advocates and Saudi dissidents living in exile have warned that the kingdom’s authorities are engaged in a harsh new crackdown on perceived critics of the Saudi government. Salma al-Shehab, a Leeds PhD student and mother of two, received a 34-year sentence last year for running a Twitter account and for following and retweeting dissidents and activists. Another woman, Noura al-Qahtani, was sentenced to 45 years in prison for using Twitter.
But indictment documents shared by Nasser Al-Qarni show that the use of social media and other communications has been criminalized within the kingdom since the beginning of Prince Mohammed’s reign.
The Saudi government and state-controlled investors have recently increased their financial involvement in US social media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook, and entertainment companies like Disney. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a Saudi investor, is the second largest investor in Twitter after Elon Musk took over the social media platform. The investor himself was detained for 83 days during a so-called anti-corruption purge in 2017. Prince Alwaleed has acknowledged that he was released after had come to an “understanding” with the kingdom that it was “confidential and secret between me and the government.”
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, has separately increased its stake in Facebook and Meta, the company that owns Facebook and WhatsApp.
A translation of the charges against Al-Qarni, for which he faces the death penalty, includes the law professor’s “admission” that he used a social media account under his own name (@awadalqarni) and used it “in every opportunity… to express their opinions.” The documents also claim that he “admitted” to participating in a WhatsApp chat and was accused of participating in videos in which he praised the Muslim Brotherhood. Al-Qarni’s apparent use of Telegram and the creation of a Telegram account were also included in the allegations.
Jeed Basyouni, head of Middle East and North Africa advocacy at Reprieve, the human rights group, said Al-Qarni’s case fits into a trend the group has observed of scholars and scholars facing the death penalty for tweet and express your views.
When asked about the kingdom’s investment in Facebook and Twitter, Basyouni said: “If it wasn’t so sinister, it would be a farce. It is consistent with how they are operating under this crown prince.”
The kingdom has been seeking to project an international image by investing in technology, modern infrastructure, sports and entertainment, Basyouni said.
“But at the same time, that is totally irreconcilable with all the cases we are seeing, in which we are talking about the public prosecutor, under the leadership of Mohammed bin Salman, who calls for people to be killed for their opinions, for tweets, by conversations. They are not dangerous, they are not asking for the overthrow of the regime,” he said.
In the US, companies with large Saudi investments or other business in Saudi Arabia have not responded to public questions about Saudi Arabia’s treatment of dissidents or the imprisonment of their users. The kingdom has also not given in to calls by the Biden administration to improve its human rights record.
Ahmed Almutairi (also known as Ahmed Aljbreen), a Saudi who was accused of failing to register as a foreign agent when he allegedly participated in a 2014-15 conspiracy to infiltrate Twitter on behalf of the Saudi government and steal sensitive user data, is considered a fugitive by the FBI after he evaded arrest in the United States. The rape is believed to have prompted a complaint from at least one Twitter user, Abdulrahman al-Sadhan, who allegedly used a satirical account to mock the government. He was arrested and disappeared, and later sentenced to decades in prison.
Far from keeping a low profile, Almutairi’s social media accounts show him leading an active life in Riyadh, including posting an invite and VIP pass on his Snapchat this week to a Netflix-sponsored party at Riyadh International Park. , which was organized by the Saudi general. Entertainment Authority.
Netflix spokesman Richard Siklos did not respond to requests for comment about the company’s sponsorship of an event in Riyadh whose guest list included a man wanted by the FBI. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings acknowledged in 2020 that he agreed to censor an episode of the comedy show Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, which included criticism of Saudi Arabia over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. in exchange for Saudi Arabia allowing explicit content be shown in the kingdom.
“It is beyond abhorrent that a prominent law professor faces the death penalty for using Twitter while an FBI fugitive, wanted for infiltrating Twitter headquarters, receives a Netflix-sponsored VIP invitation to attend a government event. Saudi,” said Khalid Aljabri, who lives in exile and whose father was a former Saudi intelligence officer, and whose brother and sister are detained in the kingdom.
Saudi dissidents living in the US also learned this week that Ibrahim Alhussayen, a Saudi who had been living in the US and pleaded guilty to lying to authorities after prosecutors alleged that he harassed and threatened people living in the US and Canada, he was deported to Saudi Arabia after serving a short sentence.
One of Alhussayen’s victims posted this week that an account belonging to the stalker sought to contact her after he was released from prison. The DOJ did not respond to a request for comment.
The Saudi government did not respond to requests for comment.
