The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Court of Appeal has confirmed that detainee Mohammed Nasser Al-Ghamdi’s death sentence has been overturned and replaced with a 30-year prison term.
Previously, 55-year-old Mohammed Al-Ghamdi was sentenced to death by the Specialised Criminal Court in Riyadh for tweets criticizing corruption and human rights abuses in the Kingdom. He was arrested in July 2022 by Saudi authorities and reportedly suffered mistreatment and deliberate medical neglect while in detention.
His death sentence was overturned after criticism from international agencies including Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa. The body had stated that Mohammed bin Nasser Al-Ghamdi’s so-called ‘crime’ was an expression and should not have been sentenced to death in the first place.
“He should have never been prosecuted let alone sentenced to death in the first place,” the body said. “While quashing his death sentence is a great relief for him and his family, the court must now end his long and painful ordeal by quashing his conviction and ordering his immediate and unconditional release,” it added.
Al-Ghamdi’s brother Assad bin Nasser Al-Ghamdi has been sentenced to 20 years of prison over his social media posts while his other brother Saeed bin Nasser Al-Ghamdi, an Islamic scholar and government critic is currently living in the United Kingdom under self-exile.
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