Saudi Arabia: Death Sentence For Social Media Posts Commuted

According to well-informed sources, the appeals chamber of the SCC commuted the death sentence against Mohammad bin Nasser al-Ghamdi on 24 September 2024 and resentenced him to 30 years in prison. Saudi Arabia’s judicial system lacks transparency, and court proceedings are often shrouded in secrecy, leaving families and defendants in agonizing limbo. The SCC Appeals Court does not explain its judgements or issue written judgments, and defendants and their lawyers are often not informed promptly of the outcome of their appeal until they repeatedly inquire with court officials, sometimes over several weeks or months.

The Specialized Criminal Court had sentenced 55-year-old Saudi retired teacher Mohammad bin Nasser al-Ghamdi to death on 9 July 2023 on trumped-up terrorism-related charges solely related to his online activity on X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube. Mohammad bin Nasser al-Ghamdi’s brother, Dr Saeed bin Nasser al-Ghamdi, is an Islamic scholar and government critic living in self-imposed exile in the United Kingdom. He told Amnesty International that he believes that his brother’s death sentence was a reprisal for his own activism. 

Amnesty International has documented acts of reprisal against family members of dissidents, activists and human rights defenders in exile, including 40 cases of relatives of activists who found themselves – by no official order or other form of notification – under travel bans, effectively forcibly separating families.

Over the past three years, Amnesty International has documented an escalating crackdown in Saudi Arabia against individuals who voiced their opinions on social media. The Specialized Criminal Court, the country’s notorious counter-terror court, has imposed punishments of imprisonment up to 45 years using vague provisions under anti-cybercrime and counterterrorism laws.