A Saudi woman recently sentenced to 45 years in prison was convicted of using the internet and social media accounts to “spread lies through tweets”, among other alleged crimes, according to a newly obtained Saudi court document.
Noura al-Qahtani, whose case first emerged last week, is a mother of five daughters, including one with a disability, is nearly 50 years old and has health issues, according to the court records.
The document, which describes Qahtani’s conviction and sentencing by a special criminal court, was shared with the Guardian by Abdullah Alaoudh, the Gulf director at Dawn, a pro-democracy group based in Washington founded by the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The court records reveal – for a second time in weeks – a draconian sentence against a seemingly ordinary woman who used social media to voice support for dissidents but was not personally engaged in political activity. It contradicts the public image the Saudi government and its supporters have sought to foster of women enjoying more personal freedom under the rule of the de facto Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman.
Last month, a Saudi appeals court sentenced Salma al-Shehab, a Leeds University PhD student and mother of two, to 34 years in prison for having a Twitter account and for following and retweeting dissidents and activists. Shehab was arrested and convicted after she had returned home to Saudi Arabia for a holiday. The sentence was widely condemned and the US state department said it had several discussions with Saudi counterparts to discuss the case.
In Qahtani’s case, the court document states that she used two anonymised Twitter accounts. One of the accounts, @Najma097, appears to have last been active on 4 July 2021 and follows 293 Twitter accounts. Some tweets appear to be critical of Prince Mohammed and support the rights of political detainees.
Qahtani was convicted of several charges, including that she sought to “besmirch” the crown prince and King Salman; that she “encouraged participation in activities that damage the security and stability of society and the state”; that she expressed “support” for the ideology of those who wish to “destabilise” the kingdom; for joining a group dedicated to these causes on Twitter and following them on YouTube. She was also convicted of “insulting” state symbols and officials, seeking the release of detainees, and obstructing the investigation into her social media use by “destroying and hiding the mobile phone use in the crime”.
She was also convicted of being in possession of a banned book, which was written by Salman Alaoudh, a well-known reformist cleric – and father of Abdullah Alaoudh of Dawn – who is himself serving a life sentence in a Saudi prison. Salman Alaoudh has been in prison since 2017 after he called for peace on Twitter following the implementation of a Saudi-led blockade on Qatar.
The book Qahtani is alleged to have possessed was not one of Alaoudh’s political books. It was described by Abdullah – who is based in the US – as a book about self improvement and fighting selfishness within one’s self.
“It is a very apolitical book,” Abdullah Alaoudh said.
The court document also references a technical analysis by state officials but it does not contain any information about how Saudi authorities identified the Twitter handle as – allegedly – being used by Qahtani.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The US social media company was infiltrated by Saudi state officials in 2014 and 2015. US prosecutors have described how the infiltration by the officials, who were employed by Twitter but were secretly being paid by senior Saudi government officials, led Saudi authorities to gain access to information about anonymous dissidents who were using Twitter inside the kingdom.
The company has allowed Bader al-Asaker, a senior aide to Prince Mohammed, who was described by US prosecutors as the mastermind behind the Saudi infiltration, to maintain his verified Twitter account.
The court document states that Qahtani was first sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment in connection with her “crimes”. The sentence was lengthened to 45 years after a prosecutor complained during her appeal that the original sentence was too lenient.
The court document shows Qahtani presented a defence in court, including that she was not a terrorist or planning a terrorist attack or part of a terrorist organisation. She also stated that she was nearly 50, had no prior record, and regretted her tweets.
The appeals court, the document shows, not only increased her sentence to 45 years, but imposed a 45-year travel ban once she emerges from prison, at about the age of 100. Her disabled daughter is 10 and suffers from a genetic disorder that causes developmental disabilities.
The Saudi embassy in Washington was not immediately available for a comment. According to the date on the court document, the new sentence was handed down on 9 August 2022.
