A Saudi artist has been sentenced to more than two decades in prison for political cartoons that allegedly insulted the Gulf kingdom’s leadership, his sister and a human rights group said this week.
The case against Mohammed al-Hazza, 48, adds to concerns about freedom of expression under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as Saudi Arabia – the world’s largest crude oil exporter – seeks to open up to tourists and investors after of years of isolation.
The father of five was arrested in February 2018 in Saudi Arabia during “a violent raid” in which security forces entered his home and ransacked his studio, the Saudi-based Sanad Human Rights Organization said in a statement. London.
A court document seen by AFP says the charges against him relate to “offensive cartoons” he made for Qatari newspaper Lusail, as well as social media posts allegedly “hostile” toward Saudi Arabia and supportive of Qatar.
Hazza’s arrest came less than a year after Saudi Arabia and several allies cut ties with Qatar, alleging it supported extremists and was too close to Iran, accusations Doha denied. The countries repaired their ties in January 2021.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends a meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on September 11, 2024
At least 208 people have been executed in the Middle Eastern nation so far this year, surpassing the most recent high of 196 in 2022 with almost three months left on the calendar.
Saudi Arabia’s Specialized Criminal Court, created in 2008 to deal with terrorism-related cases, initially sentenced Hazza to six years in prison.
But this year, as Hazza prepared to be released, the case was reopened and he was sentenced to 23 years, his sister Asrar al-Hazza told AFP by phone from the United States.
‘He was almost there… He was almost out of prison. But then, out of nowhere, it opened again and 23 years had passed,” he said.
Saudi authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the case on Wednesday.
Sanad said in his statement that Hazza worked for Lusail mainly before the 2017 boycott “and only briefly after” and that most of his cartoons concerned Qatar’s internal issues.
The group said prosecutors did not provide evidence of cartoons that were offensive to Saudi Arabia or social media posts that supported Qatar during the boycott.
Under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia has been criticized for what activists describe as a fierce crackdown on even vaguely critical online speech.
Over the past two years, the Saudi judiciary has “convicted and handed down long prison sentences to dozens of people for their expression on social media,” human rights groups Amnesty International and ALQST said in April.
Saudi officials say the defendants committed terrorism-related crimes.
“The case of Mohammed al-Hazza is an example of the suppression of freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia, which has not spared anyone, including artists,” Sanad’s director of operations, Samer Alshumrani, told AFP.
“This is supported by Saudi Arabia’s politicized and non-independent judiciary.”
Al-Hazza’s sentencing comes days after Saudi Arabia was denied a seat on the UN Human Rights Council.
The Saudi government has continued to try to present itself as a reformed country that has made progress on gender equality and human rights.
But the Kingdom has carried out a record number of executions this year under Crown Prince Mohammed: at least 208 people have been executed in the Middle Eastern nation so far in 2024.
Since assuming the role of Crown Prince in 2015, Salman has overseen at least 1,447 executions and, despite a moratorium on the use of the death penalty for minor crimes in 2020, instances of capital punishment reached a monthly record of 41 in August. and 32 last month.
The brutal regime has also given several women long prison sentences, often during secret trials, after they were caught using social media to advocate for more rights and freedoms for women.
One of those women, Manahel al-Otaibi, 30, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for “terrorist crimes” after a Saudi Arabian fitness instructor posted messages about female empowerment online.
The United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. The heartbreaking figures come as the UN prepares to vote tomorrow on whether to grant the Gulf state membership in the Human Rights council.
Manahel al-Otaibi, 30, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for posting about female empowerment on social media.
Saudi Arabia’s UN envoy Abdulaziz Alwasil (pictured) was elected president of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in an unopposed race.
Saudi Arabia has an impressive record on gender equality (File Image)
Earlier this month, Manahel told her family that she had been stabbed in the face with a sharp pen and needed stitches, but when her family tried to report the attack to the Saudi government’s Human Rights Commission, they were allegedly ignored.
However, Saudi Arabia was elected in March to chair a UN commission aimed at promoting gender equality and empowering women.
To the dismay of human rights groups around the world, Saudi Arabia’s envoy to the UN, Abdulaziz Alwasil, was elected president of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in an unopposed election in the group’s annual meeting in New York.
She even received the backing of a group of Asia-Pacific states on the commission, despite her nation’s notorious record on gender equality, which human rights groups were quick to point out.
Louis Charbonneau, UN director for Human Rights Watch, said at the time: ‘Saudi Arabia’s election as chair of the UN Commission on the Status of Women shows a shocking disregard for women’s rights. all over the world.
‘A country that imprisons women simply because they defend their rights has no business being the face of the UN’s main forum for women’s rights and gender equality.
“Saudi authorities should demonstrate that this honor is not completely undeserved and immediately release all detained women’s rights defenders, end male guardianship and guarantee women’s full right to equality with men.”
Saudi lawmakers passed a law in 2022 that claims to have increased the “personal status” of women in the nation.
But the law explicitly says that a woman must obtain permission from a male guardian to marry.
It also says that a wife must obey her husband in a “reasonable manner” and states that her husband’s financial support depends on her “obedience.”
A husband may withdraw financial support for reasons including refusing to have sexual relations with him, living in a matrimonial home, or traveling with him without a “legitimate excuse.”