The foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has been urged to intervene in the “outrageous” case of a Leeds University student jailed in Saudi Arabia for 34 years over her use of Twitter.
Hilary Benn, Labour MP for Leeds Central, said the UK had a “duty” to press for the release of Salma al-Shehab, a Saudi national who had been living in Britain and was detained after returning to visit family last year.
Shehab, who has two young children, was initially jailed for three years for “causing public unrest” and “destabilising civil and national security” after appearing to support activists and dissidents on Twitter.
But an appeals court last week handed down a new sentence – 34 years in prison followed by a 34-year travel ban – after a public prosecutor asked the court to consider other alleged crimes. She has described suffering abuse and harassment behind bars, telling a Saudi court she was subjected to interrogations after being given medications that exhausted her. Amnesty International has called for her “immediate and unconditional release”.
In a letter to Truss, Benn says the UK must intervene, and calls on her to “make representations to the Saudi authorities” for Shehab “so that she can be freed to return to her family and to her studies”. He says the case is “completely at odds with Saudi Arabia’s claim to be improving human rights”, writing: “It seems that all she has done is use her Twitter account to support women’s rights and greater freedom, and to call for the release of imprisoned activists in Saudi Arabia.”
Benn adds: “Saudi Arabia says, ‘we’re reforming the country.’ You can’t on the one hand say, ‘we are opening up and liberalising the country,’ and on the other hand send a woman to prison for expressing her opinions on Twitter.
“I think we have a duty as citizens and countries to speak out wherever human rights are abused and denied in this way. The fact that she was a student in one of our universities adds to that obligation.” He calls the case “shocking and outrageous”.
Leeds University said: “We are deeply concerned to learn of the recent development in Salma’s case and are seeking advice on whether there is anything we can do to support her. Our thoughts remain with Salma, her family, and her friends among our close-knit community of postgraduate researchers.”
Shehab was in the final year of PhD studies in the School of Medicine, focusing on improving dental treatment for patients with disabilities.
Saudi Arabia has sought to improve its global reputation in recent years through tourism campaigns and the hosting of major sporting events, including golfing championships and boxing matches.
This weekend, it took centre stage when it hosted a heavyweight title fight between the British boxer Anthony Joshua and Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday night. The fighters are reported to have been paid four times more to fight at the Jeddah Superdrome than they would have received at Wembley.
Critics say the events are part of efforts by Saudi Arabia to “launder its reputation” and distract from its poor record on human rights, a strategy termed “sportswashing”.
In an interview on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday, boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, who represents Joshua, appeared to dismiss the criticism. He said there were “a lot of people that have opinions that don’t actually go and see things with their own eyes”, and that Jeddah today was “completely unrecognisable” to how it was three years ago. “People talk about sportwashing. If people want to use sport, want to use boxing to make changes, then I’m all for it,” he said.
Bethany Al-Haidari, Saudi case manager at the Freedom Initiative, a US-based human rights group, said Shehab’s case was “shocking” but “one of hundreds”. “She’s just the one that the world happens to get the chance to see. But this is a larger problem,” she said.
“There’s been a global campaign by the Saudi government to say things are changing and the country is reforming, but that’s just not true. In fact, it’s the opposite of what we’ve seen on the ground.”
She said cases of abuses were not limited to Saudi nationals, adding that those travelling there for sporting and other events could be at risk. “Only last year, there was a case where a US citizen was pulled off a flight and detained. You never know what can happen, especially if you’ve ever talked about human rights or are from a minority. It’s not a predictable regime.”
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office did not respond to requests for comment.
