A man has received the death penalty for social media posts on X, previously known as Twitter, and actions on YouTube.
The move is the latest in a widespread crackdown on government criticism.
“Al-Ghamdi’s death sentence over tweets is extremely horrific but stands in line with the Saudi authorities’ escalating crackdown,” Lina Alhathloul from the group human rights group ALQST said.
Mohammed bin Nasser al-Ghamdi’s sentence follows others receiving life in prison for online comments.
“Lengthy prison sentences issued for free speech, such as 27 years against Salma al-Shehab, have not received sufficient outcry, and the authorities have taken this as a green light to double down on their repression,” Alhathloul continued. “They are sending a clear and sinister message — that nobody is safe and even a tweet can get you killed.”
It is unknown why officials targeted al-Ghamdi, although his brother is known to be a critic of Saudi Arabia’s government.
Reporting from Associated Press:
Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s top executioners, behind only China and Iran in 2022, according to Amnesty International. The number of people Saudi Arabia executed last year — 196 inmates — was the highest recorded by Amnesty in 30 years. In one day alone last March, the kingdom executed 81 people, the largest known mass execution carried out in the kingdom in its modern history. However, al-Ghamdi’s case appears to be the first in the current crackdown to level the death penalty against someone for their online behavior.
