15 Years In Prison For A Tweet
Nidhal Marzougui: Brother of Tunisian detainee Mahdia Marzougui
My sister, Mahdia Marzougui, is a Tunisian nurse who was sentenced to fifteen years in prison in Saudi Arabia for retweeting a tweet that supports parties against the Saudi regime.
My sister works in Saudi Arabia, and she participated in confronting the Covid 19 virus after the famous pandemic. In July 2020, we knew from some friends that she had been arrested, and after much debate, we discovered that the case was caused by tweets and posts on social media.
My sister spent a whole year suspended, and after that a series of trials began. In January 2021, the verdict was issued against her, but it was unfair, three and a half years, and when we appealed, the sentence was extended for fifteen years, and the charge is tweets that destabilize the country’s order, and we do not find a real fit between the offense and the sentence, of course.
Although we are worried about my sister's condition, we were careful not to keep her in prison. Today, we are reassured by the Tunisian Consulate's envoy confirming that she was not subjected to torture after visiting her a short while ago.
What is most frustrating is that the official institutions in Tunisia avoided showing any interest in the case, and did not cooperate with us before we resorted to the media, and the case was brought to the public after obtaining the assistance of human rights organizations. This prompts us to question the extent to which the detainee's nationality is related to the Saudi government's dealings with him.
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*كلمة نضال المرزوقي (أخ المعتقلة التونسية مهدية المرزوقي) في المؤتمر السنوي الثالث لضحايا الانتهاكات في المملكة العربية السعودية الذي عقد بتاريخ 9و 10 ديسمبر 2022.