A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a retired teacher to 30 years in prison for criticizing the government on social media. Although earlier he was sentenced to death for the same crime, but later when the matter came before the Human Rights Commission, his death sentence was commuted to 30 years in prison. Mohammed Al Gomdi, a 50-year-old teacher from Saudi Arabia, was arrested in June 2022 for criticizing the government on social media. He was sentenced to death by the Special Criminal Court in July 2023. This court was established by the Saudi government in 2008 to deal with terrorism-related cases.
When Mohammadi’s case came to light, the Saudi government had to answer on this matter. After the sentencing was announced in July, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed, when asked in a Fox interview in September, said the government was embarrassed and hoped the outcome could be overturned. Al Ghomedi’s brother, Saeed al Ghomedi, who lives in Britain, told AFP that he had been sentenced to 30 years in prison for the same charges after the Crown Prince asked for it.
what was the allegation
According to Mohammed Al Gomdi’s brother, the allegations being made against him are regarding social media posts. He wrote his post, while partly criticizing the government and expressing his support for jailed clerics Salman al-Awda and Awad al-Qarni. According to the Gulf Center for Human Rights, at the time he posted this, he had only 9 followers on the social media platform. Mohammed Al Ghomedi’s brother wrote on his social media platform X that the decision given by the court in his brother’s case makes the political situation of the country as clear as a mirror. He said that my brother did not do anything for which he is being arrested and sentenced in this manner.
Last month, another of his brothers, Asad Al Gomdi, was also sentenced to 20 years in prison for social media posts, according to Human Rights Watch and Saeed Al Gomdi. So far, no review has been done by the court on the sentence of Assad Al Ghamdi.
In fact, the Saudi government, under the government of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed, is pursuing an ambitious reform agenda, known as Vision 2030. Its objective is to make the country a global business hub and suitable for tourism. But due to such cases, the government continues to be criticized all over the world.
