Saudi authorities release activist imprisoned over tweets

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia: Saudi authorities have freed Salma al-Shehab after completing her sentence over tweets criticising the government, rights groups said, marking the latest such release of an activist in recent months.

“Saudi PhD student Salma al-Shehab has now been released from prison!” the London-based ALQST for Human Rights said in a post on X on Monday.

“This follows over four years of arbitrary imprisonment on the basis of her peaceful activism,” it said, adding: “Her full freedom must now be granted, including the right to travel to complete her studies” at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom.

Sanad, another London-based rights group, confirmed her release, saying “Saudi authorities have released human rights activist Salma al-Shehab after more than four years of arbitrary detention”.

It said she had been arrested “for tweets in which she called for reform and the release of prisoners of conscience”.

Shehab, a mother of two, was sentenced to six years in prison for aiding “those who seek to disturb public order”.

After appealing the sentence, another court increased her jail time to 34 years, before that was commuted to 27 years then to four, with a subsequent travel ban.