16 NGOs, including the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights, have called on the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) to enhance its responsibilities towards human rights and ensure the safety of its users from the surveillance of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The NGOs stated in a joint statement that the verdict against retired teacher Mohammed Al-Ghamdi for his peaceful activity on social media represents an unprecedented escalation in the ongoing suppression of freedom of expression, whether online or offline.
They indicated that On 10 July 2023, Saudi Arabia’s Specialised Criminal Court sentenced to death Mohammed al-Ghamdi, brother of prominent Saudi dissident Saeed al-Ghamdi, solely for his social media activity. The charges brought against him under the kingdom’s draconian Counter-Terrorism Law included “describing the King or the Crown Prince in a way that undermines religion or justice” and “publishing false news with the intention of executing a terrorist crime”. The only evidence brought against him cited comments made to his handful of followers on Twitter (now renamed X) and YouTube.
The statement considered that previously the Internet was viewed as a space in which people in Saudi Arabia could safely share opinions that they never dared to express in the real world, over the years it has become clear that the Saudi authorities will not tolerate free speech online.
The NGOs indicated that many activists have been prosecuted under the draconian Anti-Cybercrime and Counter-Terrorism Laws for posting tweets critical of the Saudi authorities. As a result, more and more Saudis either self-censor or tweet anonymously using aliases, but evidence suggests that even then they may not be safe.
A statement that highlighted the United States’ accusation of spying for Saudi Arabia In November 2019, two former Twitter employees were charged with spying for the Saudi authorities by accessing the private data of Saudi dissidents using the platform, a breach believed to have led to the arrest of humanitarian worker Abdulrahman al-Sadhan, among others.
The statement indicated that Al-Sadhan is currently serving a 20-year jail term, accused of running a satirical Twitter account. His sister, Areej al-Sadhan, has filed a US civil lawsuit against Twitter, accusing the platform of becoming “a tool of transnational repression.
The statement considered After Elon Musk’s takeover, the platform has increasingly become an unsafe space for journalists, human rights defenders, and dissidents. According to Twitter’s own released data, the company has complied with the majority of governments’ requests for censorship or surveillance.
The organizations confirmed that the Saudi kingdom is one of the world’s most prolific users of the death penalty with 196 individuals executed last year, the highest annual figure in recent Saudi history, and at least 105 executed so far in 2023. The authorities sometimes use the loosely worded Counter-Terrorism Law to convict and sentence to death political opponents and dissidents, following deeply unfair trials in which coerced confessions are admitted as evidence in court.
The statement explained that Al-Ghamidi’s case marks the first known death sentence issued in Saudi Arabia solely for social media activity, reflecting a recently intensified crackdown on online expression. In recent months the Saudi courts have convicted and passed long jail sentences on many individuals for peaceful activity on social media, notably Abdullah Jelan (10 years), Salma al-Shehab (27 years), Fatima al-Shawarbi (30 years), Sukaynah al-Aithan (40 years) and Nourah al-Qahtani (45 years). To underline the authorities’ determination to suppress free speech online, the Saudi state broadcaster recently televised an interview with a man jailed for a single tweet that he “hadn’t expected” could land him in prison, brazenly sending out the chilling message that nobody is safe on social media in Saudi Arabia.
The organizations considered that Given that the Saudi authorities have a track record of utilising X as a tool of surveillance and means to crack down on free speech, the platform’s new owner, Elon Musk, who claims to be a staunch supporter of uninhibited free speech, should take all possible measures to protect the platform’s users by strengthening privacy and safety measures on the platform as well as refraining from handing users’ personal information to the Saudi authorities. His repeated arguments against anonymity on the platform risk putting dissidents still further at the mercy of repressive states around the world. We, therefore, call on X to meet its corporate responsibilities, under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, to respect human rights, including the right to free expression and the right to privacy, and mitigate any adverse human rights impacts linked to the platform's services and products –including protecting users’ safety and even lives, the right to anonymity.
Signatories::
- 1. ACAT-France
- Access Now
- AlQST for Human Rights
- Article 19
- European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR)
- Freedom House
- Freedom Initiative
- Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)
- International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
- International Service for Human Rights
- MENA Rights Group
- PEN America
- PEN International
- Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED)
- SANAD Organisation for Human Rights
- SMEX (Social Media Exchange)