A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a man to death for reposting tweets critical of the Middle Eastern nation’s government, Associated Press reports.

The sentence handed down by the country’s Specialised Criminal Court against Mohammed bin Nasser al-Ghamdi, a retired school teacher, was provided to the publication on Wednesday.

al-Ghamdi was charged with “betraying his religion,” “disturbing the security of society,” “conspiring against the government,” and “impugning the kingdom and the crown prince”.

While the Associated Press did not share the exact posts that al-Ghamdi shared, the charges were based on his resharing of critics’ posts and not his own comments.

al-Ghamdi’s brother is a well-known critic of the Saudi government and currently resides in the UK, where he is an Islamic scholar.

In a post on Twitter, he alleged that the judgment was targeted at him.

“This false ruling aims to spite me personally after failed attempts by the investigators to have me return to the country,” he wrote.

The government has previously arrested family members of critics who live abroad to try and coerce them into returning to the country.

International rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, criticised the ruling, with researcher Joey Shea stating that repression in Saudi Arabia had reached a “terrifying new stage” when a court could give someone the death penalty for “nothing more than peaceful tweets”.

According to Amnesty International, Saudi Arabia is the world’s third-biggest executioner — with only China and Iran sentencing more people to death every year.

Saudi Arabia executed a record 196 people last year.

However, the Associated Press reports that this case seems to be the first time the death penalty was doled out to someone for their online behaviour.

It follows a 27-year prison sentence handed down against Salma al-Shebab for spreading “rumours” and retweeting dissidents.

While Twitter/X’s majority owner Elon Musk has repeatedly emphasised support for free speech, one of the country’s high-profile citizens has a sizeable financial stake in the company.

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia — a nephew of Saudi Arabia’s king — is the second largest shareholder in Twitter/X.

Kingdom Holding, a company in which Alwaleed holds a 95% stake, owns 4% of the platform.

It was one of an assortment of investors that assisted Musk with buying the company out for $44 billion in October 2022.

source:Saudi man sentenced to death for retweeting posts critical of government (mybroadband.co.za)