Partners of Saudi Arabia should send observers to upcoming trial hearings of Salma al-Shehab and Nourah al-Qahtani

Partners of Saudi Arabia should send observers to the upcoming trial hearings of Salma al-Shehab and Nourah al-Qahtani starting on September 25, human rights groups said in a joint statement today. The United States, United Kingdom, and European Union member states should publicly call for the release of al-Shehab and al-Qahtani.

In August 2022, Saudi courts handed down dramatically long sentences for Salma al-Shehab and Nourah al-Qahtani based solely on their peaceful social media activity. Al-Shehab was sentenced to 34 years in prison which was reduced in 2023 to 27 years and al-Qahtani to 45 years, followed by a travel ban of the length of their sentences.

“Partners of Saudi Arabia should not stay silent on the government’s assault on peaceful expression,” said Lina al-Hathloul, Head of Monitoring and Advocacy at ALQST for Human Rights. “Secret trials should not be accepted as a norm, and governments should send trial monitors to ensure due process rights are respected and seek the release of al-Shehab and al-Qahtani.”

Both al-Shehab and al-Qahtani were convicted and sentenced under Saudi’s notorious vague and overbroad counterterrorism law that continues to be used to suppress public dissent and target religious minorities. The counterterrorism law undermines due process and fair trial rights because it grants government agencies the authority to arrest and detain people, monitor their communications and financial data, search their property, and seize assets without judicial oversight.

In July 2023, the UN working group on arbitrary detention issued an opinion finding al-Shehab and al-Qahtani’s arrest and sentence to be arbitrary and calling for their immediate release.

Al-Shehab, University of Leeds PhD student, mother of two and member of Saudi Arabia’s Shi’a minority, was arrested and detained in January 2021 a few days before her planned return to the United Kingdom to finish her final year as a doctoral student at the School of Medicine at the University of Leeds. Most of al-Shehab’s tweets over the years related to her family and women’s rights issues in Saudi Arabia.

Al-Qahtani, a mother of five and now over 50 years old, had her sentence increased from 13 to 45 years in prison followed by a 45-year travel ban. According to Amnesty International, this is believed to be the longest ever sentence imposed on a Saudi woman for peaceful social media activity.

Rights organisations have documented rampant abuses in Saudi Arabia’s criminal justice system, especially due process and fair trial rights, that are so fundamental that make it highly unlikely that al-Shehab and al-Qahtani will receive a fair trial.

The signatories urge governments to send monitors to observe the trial’s hearings, publicly condemn due process violations, and call for the immediate and unconditional release of the defendants.

Falah Sayed, Human Rights Officer at MENA Rights Group, commented: “Economic and security ties with Saudi Arabia should not prevent its partners from expressing concern over the lengthy sentences and calling for the immediate and unconditional release of al-Shehab and al-Qahtani.”

Signatories 

• ALQST For Human Rights
• Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN)
• Freedom House
• MENA Rights Group