Background
Take Action
Template Letter
Addresses
Background
Saudi Arabia is waging a campaign to silence dissidents on Twitter, arresting, and issuing long term prison sentences, and more recently sentencing a law professor to death over tweets. What is perhaps most hypocritical about this is that Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz owns 95% of Kingdom Holding Company, which in turn owns 4% of Twitter, a stake second only to Elon Musk.
Courts sentenced reformist law professor and scholar, Awad Al-Qarni to death. Al-Qarni, who is now 65, was arrested in 2017 during the Great Purge, after Mohammed bin Salman was inaugurated as Crown Prince. Bin Salman’s purge included academics, politicians, military personnel, businessmen and royals, including his own mother and third wife to the King, Fahda bint Falah Al Hathleen. Al-Qarni was charged with sharing tweets to his around 2 million followers, in support of making reforms within the kingdom.
This case comes a year after activist Salma al-Shehab was sentenced to 34 years for tweeting in support of activists calling for reform. The 34-year-old mother of two was returning from Leeds to see her family whilst on a break from Leeds University. She was originally given a three-year sentence, but this was later extended to 34 years, despite no new convictions being made. She was guilty of retweeting messages opposing the imprisonment of Loujain al-Hathloul, a prominent feminist in the kingdom.
Noura al-Qahtani, a 50-year-old mother of 5 was given 45 years, partly for sending tweets, which according to the Saudi authorities were “Spreading lies”. Qahtani had followed and retweeted from accounts which were critical towards Bin Salman and the arrests of some detainees within the kingdom. She was also convicted of owning a banned book written by popular reformist cleric Salman al-Ouda (the book in question was not in fact one of his political books, rather it was a self-help book) who is also imprisoned, and of insulting state symbols. She was originally sentenced to 13 years, which was later lengthened to 45 years despite no new charges or evidence coming forward.
Executions in Saudi Arabia are not new, in 2022 Saudi Arabia executed 147 people including 81 people in one day, as part of what has been considered by many analysts to be the worst political purge the world has seen since the end of the Cold War. However, the level of authoritarianism seen by executing a well-known and much respected professor just for tweeting shows us the authoritarianism and brutality of the regime. To execute people simply for tweeting dissent opinions is inexcusable and is particularly hypocritical from a country that owns such a huge stake in Twitter itself.
Take Action
- Write to your foreign office and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression (We have two template letters, slightly adjusted for the two letters) expressing your anger and demand that they act.
- Please forward any responses you might have to us at info@ihrc.org, so that we can continue to develop this campaign further.
- Share this alert and encourage others to take part.
- Please share verified stories and information.
- Keep visiting our website (https://www.ihrc.org.uk/) to see any updates on this case
Template Letter
Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression:
[Your name]
[Your address]
[Date]
Dear Ms. Khan,
Re: Execution of Awad al-Qarni in Saudi Arabia
I am writing to you in regard to the case of Awad Al-Qarni, a Saudi professor who has been sentenced to be executed for messages he has put out on Twitter. To arrest someone for stating their views on the politics of their own country is authoritarianism of the most dystopian kind. To execute them for it is absolutely abhorrent and should be not only condemned but opposed by the international community.
In the past it has arrested 34-year-old mother Salma al-Shehab and 50-year-old mother of 5, Noura al-Qahtani, for similar offences, and although they received only a few years each at their trials, their sentences were extended to 34 and 45 years, due to outside pressure. There has been no evidence that any of these tweet’s support or encourage any form of violence against either civilians, politicians or members of the civil society, this has rather been an attack on political opinions.
With these and previous political purges, Saudi Arabia has shown itself to be among the most authoritarian countries in the world, and its campaign of arresting its citizens for expressing discontent on Twitter is a new chapter in its long history of cruelty and despotism towards its own citizenry.
Whilst many Western governments have condemned and sought to punish countries such as Russia, Syria and Iran for how they deal with their opposition, these nations remain silent and refuse to take action on the crimes committed by allies such as Saudi Arabia. This has created a two-tier human rights system in the world, where brutality goes unchecked and unchallenged in nations that are supported by Western governments.
The United Nation should remain impartial of political allegiances between nations, and challenge human rights abuses wherever they happen. Remaining silent on Saudi persecution of public dissent, will signal that the UN endorses a two-tier human rights system, one where pro-Western regimes may persecute their citizens with impunity.
I ask that your office puts pressure on the General Assembly to strongly condemn these violations of basic human rights in Saudi Arabi, and to take action to protect the rights of Saudi citizens to dissent against their government.
Yours Sincerely
[Your name]
Your Foreign Secretary (Where the United Kingdom is mentioned is highlighted in red, please change to your country):
[Your name]
[Your address]
[Date]
Dear [Name of Foreign Secretary],
Re: Executions in Saudi Arabia
I am writing to you in regards to the case of Awad Al-Qarni, a Saudi Arabian professor who has been sentenced to execution for messages he has put out on Twitter. The United Kingdom has shown its refusal to reform its foreign policy and continues to follow a colonial blueprint towards international relations. It must be consistent when dealing with both it’s allies and its enemies, it cannot sanction countries which have anti-Imperialist politics, whilst allowing those who work for the interests of the Western elites to get away with similar actions.
Therefore, to not take similar action against Saudi Arabia when they arrest someone for stating their view on the politics of their own country is contradictory to the principles that the UK claims to support, and for Saudi Arabia to execute them for it is absolutely abhorrent and should be not only condemned, but have action taken on them. There has been no evidence that any of these tweets support or encourage any form of violence against either civilians, politicians or members of the civil society, this has rather been an attack on political opinions, whilst the UK is quick to condemn rioters being executed for killing police, or arrested for supporting violent riots within those countries in which her elites consider to be enemies.
With these, and previous actions, Saudi Arabia has shown itself to be among the most authoritarian countries in the World, and its campaign of arresting its citizens for expressing discontent on Twitter despite having the second biggest financial share in the social media platform, is both hypocritical and unacceptable. In the past it has arrested 34-year-old mother Salma al-Shehab and 50-year-old mother of 5, Noura al-Qahtani, for similar offences, and although they received only a few years each at their trials, their sentences were extended to 34 and 45 years, due to outside pressure. There has been no evidence that any of these tweets support or encourage any form of violence against either civilians, politicians or members of the civil society, this has rather been an attack on political opinions, whilst the UK is quick to condemn rioters being executed for killing police, or arrested for supporting violent riots within those countries in which her elites consider to be enemies. Saudi Arabia engaged in an atrocious mass execution of 81 people last year, which brought the number of executions in 2022 to 147.
I ask that you to take a strong stance and sanction Saudi Arabia for these violations of basic human rights, and begin to set a precedence for the rest of the International Community to act. Failure to do so will expose the UK’s hypocrisy on human rights to the international community.
Yours Sincerely
[Your name]
Addresses
Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression:
Ms. Irene Khan
Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
OHCHR-UNOG
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneve 10, Switzerland
Alternatively, you can fax her at +41 22 917 9006 or email hrc-sr-freedex@un.org
United Kingdom:
The Rt Hon James Cleverly MP
King Charles Street
London
SW1A 2AH
United Kingdom
Alternatively email: fcdo.correspondence@fcdo.gov.uk
United States:
Secretary of State – Anthony Blinken
Anthony Blinken
US Department of State
2201 C St NW,
Washington,
DC 20520,
United States
Alternatively message him online at: https://register.state.gov/contactus/contactusform
Republic of Ireland:
Minister for Foreign Affairs – Micheál Martin
Micheál Martin
Department of Foreign Affairs
Iveagh House
80 St Stephen’s Green
Dublin 2
D02 VY53
Alternatively message them online at: https://www.dfa.ie/about-us/contact-us/contact-all-other-queries/
Canada:
Minister of Foreign Affairs – The Hon. Mélanie Joly, MP
The Hon. Mélanie Joly, MP
125 Sussex Dr,
Ottawa,
ON K1A 0G2,
Canada
Alternatively you can message her online at: https://www.international.gc.ca/global-affairs-affaires-mondiales/corporate-ministere/contact-contactez/form-formulaire.aspx?lang=eng
Australia:
Minister of Foreign Affairs: Penny Wong
Penny Wong
RG Casey Building
John McEwen Crescent
Barton ACT 0221 Australia
Alternatively you can email her at: foreign.minister@dfat.gov.au
New Zealand:
Minister of Foreign Affairs – Nanaia Cybele Mahuta
Nanaia Cybele Mahuta
New Zealand Foreign Affairs & Trade
195 Lambton Quay
Private Bag 18 901
Wellington 6160, New Zealand
Alternatively, you can email her at: Nanaia.Mahuta@parliament.govt.nz
