Saudi Arabia has been long known as the Kingdom of silence and repression, where several human rights activists, opponents, academics, and journalists are prosecuted, forcibly disappeared, arbitrary detained, and tortured in hell-like prisons.
However, Jamal Khashoggi’s murder was a turning point for the Saudi international reputation. The shadow cast by the grisly murder of Jamal Khashoggi has hung over the dismal image of the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).
Last but not least was the death penalty against the prominent pro-reform law professor Awad Al-Qarni for alleged crimes including having a Twitter account and using WhatsApp to share news considered “hostile” to the kingdom, according to court documents seen by the Guardian.
Details of the charges brought against Al-Qarni have now been shared with the Guardian by his son Nasser, who last year fled the kingdom and is living in the UK, where he has said he is seeking asylum protection. Public prosecutors have called for the death penalty in the case, but the court has yet to make a formal judgement.
But the prosecution documents shared by Nasser Al-Qarni show that the use of social media and other communications has been criminalised inside the kingdom since the beginning of Prince Mohammed’s reign.
The Saudi government and state-controlled investors have recently increased their financial stake in US social media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook, and entertainment companies such as Disney.
Jeed Basyouni, the head of the Middle East and North African advocacy at Reprieve, the human rights group, said Al-Qarni’s case fits into a trend the group has observed of scholars and academics facing the death penalty for tweeting and expressing their views.
Asked about the kingdom’s investment in Facebook and Twitter, Basyouni said: “If it wasn’t so sinister, it would be farcical. It is consistent with how they’re operating under this crown prince.”
The arrest of Awad Al-Qarni, 65, in September 2017 represented the start of a crackdown against dissent by the then newly named crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.
Following the Saudi prosecutors’ demand to impose death penalty against Awad al-Qarni, MBS has been under fire on social media for silencing freedom of expression in the Kingdom.
The activist Stephanie Kirchgaessner wrote on Twitter: “The 2017 arrest of Awad Al-Qarni was a harbinger of MBS’s crackdown on social media users, even as his government has increased its financial stake in the companies.
For her part, the activist Agnes Callamard said on Twitter:
In Saudi Arabia, @skirchy reports that using social media under one’s own name, “at every opportunity” “to express one’s opinions” is a crime punishable by death. This is the fate of Law Professor Awad Al-Qarni.
