A 65-year-old Professor named Awad Al-Qarni stands to face a death sentence for the crime of using social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram. He is accused of allegedly disseminating anti-government news on social media, reported The Guardian.
The pro-reform law cleric was arrested on September 9, 2017, after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman took the reigns into his hands. According to the report, Awad Al-Qarni has been falsely portrayed as a ‘dangerous preacher’ by State-controlled media.
Prior to his arrest, the cleric boasted of a whopping 2 million followers on Twitter. His arrest is considered as a crackdown on dissidents by the authoritative Saudi Arabian government.
As per The Guardian report, the use of social media in Saudi Arabia has been criminalised by the regime of Mohammed bin Salman. This is despite the fact that the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom, has massive investments in Facebook and Whatsapp.
The British newspaper reported that Awad Al-Qarni has been given a death sentence for admitting that he used his Twitter account (@awadalqarni) to express his opinions at every opportunity. His son Nasser gave the details of the charges slapped against him to the newspaper. Nasser fled the kingdom last year and is living in the UK, where he is seeking asylum protection.
Awad Al-Qarni has been charged for allegedly praising the radical Islamist outfit, Muslim Brotherhood, in videos and Whatsapp chats. “Al-Qarni’s apparent use of Telegram and creation of a Telegram account were also included in the allegations,” the report stated.
من هم الذين داهموا منزلنا يوم الاعتقال؟
— ناصر بن عوض القرني (@NasserAwadQ) October 5, 2022
و كيف اقتحموا البيت على والدي وأهلي؟
عن ماذا كان يبحثون في داخل المنزل؟
أنا وأخي .. أين كنا؟!
هنا أروي لكم القصة كاملة لما حدث لوالدي الدكتور عوض القرني في تلك الليلة pic.twitter.com/FInKPzZa7P
This is not the first time that the Kingdom has penalised someone for using social media. In August last year, a woman named Salma al-Shehab was sentenced to 34 years in prison for having a Twitter account and sharing tweets of activists and critics of the MBS regime.
Around the same time, another woman Nourah bint Saeed al-Qaht was sentenced to 45 years imprisonment over her social media activity. Jeed Basyouni, who works for human rights group Reprieve, said that the death sentence handed out to Awad Al-Qarni fitted a pattern of silencing critics.
She said,”…The public prosecutor – under the guidance of Mohammed bin Salman – called for people to be killed for their opinions, for tweets, and for conversations. They (the activists) are not dangerous, they’re not calling for an overthrow of the regime.”
The development comes at a time when Saudi Arabia is trying to rebrand itself as a tolerant, pluralist society.
Note: While most media reports are now suggesting that the Muslim cleric faces death charges and the court is yet to deliver judgement, earlier media reports said the death sentence has already been given. A link to such archived media report of The Guardian can be seen here. The report and headline have been updated accordingly.
