According to the independent human rights organization ALQST, the PhD student at the University of Leeds, UK was arrested in January 2021 and had to undergo questioning sessions over a period of 265 days before being sent to the Criminal Court. Specialization, according to the independent human rights organization ALQST.
She was originally sentenced to six years late last year – a number that was increased to 34 years after al-Shehab filed an appeal, according to the documents.
The charges against her by the Public Prosecution Service include “providing those who seek to disrupt public order and undermine the safety of the general public and the stability of the state, and also posting uploading false and trending rumors on Twitter,” ALQST said.
Al Shehab told the court that without prior warning, she was “pushed” into a months-long investigation in which she was held in solitary confinement, according to court documents.
The documents said the mother-of-two also asked the court to consider taking care of the children and the ailing mother.
ALQST Director of Communications and Supervision Lina Al-Hathloul told CNN that al-Shehab was arrested for aiding his sister Loujain al-Hathloul, a prominent activist who spent more than 1,000 days in prison after a raid. Scanned in May 2018 targeted well-known opponents of the kingdom’s ban on women driving – and other prisoners of conscience on Twitter.
Lina Al-Hathloul said in the ALQST statement that al-Shehab’s verdict “mocks the Saudi government’s statement on reforms towards women and the legal system,” adding that it “shows that they remain adamant in severely punishing anyone who expresses their opinions freely.”
They called on the Saudi government to release al-Shehab and asked the kingdom to protect freedom of speech.
Al-Shehab’s Twitter account remained online with a pinned tweet that read: “Freedom for prisoners of conscience and all the oppressed in the world.”
The US State Department said it was “studying” the case on Wednesday.
“But I can say this is a general issue and I can say this without warning and resolutely: exercising freedom of speech to advocate for women’s rights should not be criminalized. “, State Department spokesman Ned Price said at a news conference with reporters.
When asked if Saudi Arabia was encouraged by recent US commitments to the country, Price replied that “our commitment … made it clear … that humanity rights are at the heart of our agenda.”
Reporting contributed by CNN’s Kylie Atwood.
