NPR: DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A retired teacher in Saudi Arabia was recently sentenced to death for his tweets criticizing the country's leadership to his handful of followers, according to rights advocates and his family.
The sentencing of Mohammad Alghamdi, who is in his mid-50s, is the latest in an escalating crackdown on social media users in Saudi Arabia. While others are serving prison terms ranging from 20 to 45 years for their tweets and online criticism of the government, Alghamdi appears to be the first person to be sentenced to death based solely on his posts on X, formerly called Twitter, and YouTube activity.
The wide-scale targeting of critics has unfolded as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pushes sensitive reforms that have overhauled life and loosened restrictions for many in the country. These sweeping reforms, like allowing women to drive, ending strict gender segregation rules in public and opening the country to entertainment and tourism, have coincided with a similarly sweeping crush of dissent.
Alghamdi, a father of seven living in Mecca, had gained just 10 followers between the two anonymous accounts he ran on X. According to Human Rights Watch, he used the social media site to rail against alleged government corruption, but was mostly resharing posts by more popular government critics. » | Aya Batrawy | Thursday, August 31, 2023
