Salma al-Shehab: who is Leeds student, what did she post on Twitter and Saudi Arabia prison sentence explained

Salma al-Shehab, a mother of two, has been accused of retweeting dissidents, according to court documents obtained Thursday (18 August), a decision that has drawn growing global condemnation.

Al-Shehab had initially been sentenced by Saudi Arabia’s special terrorist court to three years in prison for using Twitter to “cause public unrest and destabilise civil and national security”.

During the appeal process, however, a public prosecutor asked the court to include other alleged crimes and al-Shehab received a 34-year prison sentence, followed by a 34-year travel ban.

She was detained during a family holiday in January 2021 just days before she planned to return to the United Kingdom, according to the Freedom Initiative, a Washington-based human rights group.

The case has sparked concerns regarding Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s crackdown on dissidents and activists in the country.

Who is Salma al-Shehab?

Al-Shehab was a PhD student at Leeds University, and also worked as a dental hygienist, medical educator and lecturer at Saudi Arabia’s Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University.

She returned to Saudi Arabia in December 2020 for a holiday and planned to bring her husband and children with her back to the UK. However, during her stay she was called in by the Saudi authorities for questioning and was then arrested in January 2021.

During her appeal, al-Shehab said the harsh judgement was tantamount to the “destruction of me, my family, my future, and the future of my children.” She has two young boys, aged 4 and 6.

The University of Leeds has expressed its concerns regarding the sentence, saying it was “seeking advice on whether there is anything we can do to support her”.

Al-Shehab’s Twitter account has more than 3,000 followers and includes Tweets of Saudi dissidents living in exile.

What has the US said?

The US State Department said Wednesday (17 August) it is monitoring the case, and said freedom of expression “should never be criminalised”.

Ned Price, the State Department’s spokesperson, said: “Freedom of expression is a principle that we stand up for around the world. Anytime any government anywhere tramples on such a principle, we speak out and we seek to defend that fundamental right that is as fundamental to individuals in Saudi Arabia as it is to any country around the world.”

Last month, US President Joe Biden travelled to the oil-rich kingdom and held talks with Prince Mohammed in which he said he raised human rights concerns. Their meeting — and much-criticised fist-bump — marked a sharp turn-around from President Biden’s earlier vow to make the kingdom a “pariah” over the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Since rising to power in 2017, Prince Mohammed has faced criticism over his arrests of those who fail to fall in line, including dissidents and activists but also princes and businessmen.