Irish Examiner view: In Saudi Arabia, any form of dissent is treated as terrorism

34-year-old Salma al-Shehab, a phD candidate at Leeds University, was jailed for retweeting critics of the Saudi regime
Irish Examiner view: In Saudi Arabia, any form of dissent is treated as terrorism

US president Joe Biden was happy to visit Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — despite Saudi outrages such as the jailing for 34 years of Salma al-Shehab. Picture: Bandar Aljaloud/AP

News from Saudi Arabia in recent days that a woman has been jailed for 34 years for helping to destabilise the regime appears to nail the lie that the country is in any way a reforming one and that its leadership is looking to create a more open and egalitarian society in the kingdom.

That Salma al-Shehab, a mother of two who is also a student at Leeds University in the UK, was arrested while at home on holiday and convicted of using her Twitter account to retweet the opinions of dissidents and activists is nothing short of horrifying.

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