Saudi dissident's brother sentenced to death for social media posts about royals
In a crackdown on dissent by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, prosecutors have charged a retired teacher with treason after criticizing the ruling family.
A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced the brother of an exiled dissident to death, finding him guilty of disloyalty to the kingdom's rulers in a case built around anonymous social media accounts in which he had shared his criticism of the government.
The accused, Mohammed bin Nasser al-Ghamdi, a 54-year-old retired teacher, had virtually no public visibility before being arrested the year last and accused of treason. One of the main social media accounts cited in his lawsuit, on Platform X — formerly Twitter — has eight followers.
The sentence, handed down in July, also rested on confessions attributed to Mr. al-Ghamdi after his arrest, in which he declared to regard the king and the crown prince as “tyrants” and “agents of the West” who fought against Islam, according to the court. documents reviewed by The New York Times.
A possible explanation for his prosecution was offered by his older brother, Saeed bin Nasser al-Ghamdi, a conservative Muslim cleric and a outspoken dissident. who lives in exile in Britain. He said the authorities seemed to be using his younger brother to punish him.
"The messages written by my brother, no one knew about them and they didn't widespread – no one has even seen them,” Saeed al-Ghamdi told The Times on Friday. "It seems to me that they wanted to antagonize me, harm me, or try to bother me with this case."
The case is part of a crackdown on dissent which deepened under the Crown. Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 38, the kingdom's de facto ruler.
Over the past eight years, the prince has made this once ultraconservative country almost unrecognizable, overseeing a plan to diversify its oil-dependent economy and end a series of religious and social restrictions that many Saudis found stifling. At the same time, the modest space for political discourse has shrunk.
Since 2017, Saudi authorities arrested hundreds of critics from all political stripes. , including clerics, Snapchat influencers, billionaires and several cousins of the prince. The 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul, which sparked international outrage, is the most egregious example. A former member of the Saudi government, Mr. Khashoggi fled the country and became an outspoken critic.
In recent years, harsher penalties than ever have been imposed on citizens who criticize. their government, even though the defendants have become less prominent.
After being arrested, the young Mr. al-Ghamdi confessed to having religious and political beliefs that prosecutors qualified as serious. violations of the kingdom's broader anti-terrorism law, according to court documents. In the confession attributed to him after his arrest, he admitted to being at the origin of the anonymous accounts on the social networks in question.
His lawyer denied the charges and said his client "loved and was loyal to this nation," according to court documents. >
Despite this, a panel of judges sentenced Mr. al-Ghamdi to death, according to a copy of the decision. The verdict is subject to appeal.
In a crackdown on dissent by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, prosecutors have charged a retired teacher with treason after criticizing the ruling family.
A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced the brother of an exiled dissident to death, finding him guilty of disloyalty to the kingdom's rulers in a case built around anonymous social media accounts in which he had shared his criticism of the government.
The accused, Mohammed bin Nasser al-Ghamdi, a 54-year-old retired teacher, had virtually no public visibility before being arrested the year last and accused of treason. One of the main social media accounts cited in his lawsuit, on Platform X — formerly Twitter — has eight followers.
The sentence, handed down in July, also rested on confessions attributed to Mr. al-Ghamdi after his arrest, in which he declared to regard the king and the crown prince as “tyrants” and “agents of the West” who fought against Islam, according to the court. documents reviewed by The New York Times.
A possible explanation for his prosecution was offered by his older brother, Saeed bin Nasser al-Ghamdi, a conservative Muslim cleric and a outspoken dissident. who lives in exile in Britain. He said the authorities seemed to be using his younger brother to punish him.
"The messages written by my brother, no one knew about them and they didn't widespread – no one has even seen them,” Saeed al-Ghamdi told The Times on Friday. "It seems to me that they wanted to antagonize me, harm me, or try to bother me with this case."
The case is part of a crackdown on dissent which deepened under the Crown. Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 38, the kingdom's de facto ruler.
Over the past eight years, the prince has made this once ultraconservative country almost unrecognizable, overseeing a plan to diversify its oil-dependent economy and end a series of religious and social restrictions that many Saudis found stifling. At the same time, the modest space for political discourse has shrunk.
Since 2017, Saudi authorities arrested hundreds of critics from all political stripes. , including clerics, Snapchat influencers, billionaires and several cousins of the prince. The 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul, which sparked international outrage, is the most egregious example. A former member of the Saudi government, Mr. Khashoggi fled the country and became an outspoken critic.
In recent years, harsher penalties than ever have been imposed on citizens who criticize. their government, even though the defendants have become less prominent.
After being arrested, the young Mr. al-Ghamdi confessed to having religious and political beliefs that prosecutors qualified as serious. violations of the kingdom's broader anti-terrorism law, according to court documents. In the confession attributed to him after his arrest, he admitted to being at the origin of the anonymous accounts on the social networks in question.
His lawyer denied the charges and said his client "loved and was loyal to this nation," according to court documents. >
Despite this, a panel of judges sentenced Mr. al-Ghamdi to death, according to a copy of the decision. The verdict is subject to appeal.
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