Saudi Arabia: Teacher sentenced to 20 years for tweets: Asaad bin Nasser al-Ghamdi

On 29 May 2024, Saudi Arabia’s Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) sentenced 47-year-old teacher Asaad bin Nasser al-Ghamdi to 20 years in prison for social media posts criticizing the government’s Vision 2030 programme and expressing condolences for the death in prison of a prominent human rights defender. Al-Ghamdi was arrested on 20 November 2022. According to trusted sources, he was held in solitary confinement for the first three months of his detention and has been denied access to adequate healthcare, including for his epilepsy. Asaad bin Nasser al-Ghamdi’s brother, Mohammad, was arrested five months prior to Asaad’s arrest and sentenced to death in July 2023 solely over his social media posts. The Saudi authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Asaad bin Nasser al-Ghamdi and quash his conviction and sentence.