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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 10, 2025
Saudi Arabia: Freedom House Praises Salma al-Shehab’s Release, Calls for Further Action
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Al-Shehab was arbitrarily detained in 2021 and unfairly sentenced to 34 years in prison for her social media activity.
WASHINGTON—After Saudi authorities released political prisoner Salma al-Shehab, Brian Tronic, director of Free Them All: The Fred Hiatt Program to Free Political Prisoners at Freedom House, issued the following statement:
“Salma al-Shehab is finally free after being arrested four years ago simply for sharing posts on X. From the outset, her case, which saw her receive a nearly unprecedented 34-year prison sentence, was a grave miscarriage of justice by Saudi authorities. We are delighted that she is free, but remain concerned that she has been given a four-year conditional release—thus leaving her at the mercy of the authorities—and subjected to an eight-year travel ban, which will prevent her from completing her PhD in dentistry in the United Kingdom and building a future for her family. We reiterate our call for her unconditional release. Our thoughts are with al-Shehab’s family, including her young children, and her supporters, who have endured so much.
“Al-Shehab’s unjust and arbitrary punishment is emblematic of a fundamentally broken Saudi justice system, where trials are not fair, defendants have alarmingly few rights, and allegations of torture and abuse by police and prison officials are commonplace.
“Freedom House and the Fred Hiatt Program to Free Political Prisoners
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will continue our efforts to free political prisoners unjustly detained in Saudi Arabia and around the world. We thank our partners who advocated for al-Shehab’s release, including Representatives Jamie Raskin and Nancy Mace, the Human Rights Foundation, MENA Rights Group, the Middle East Democracy Center, and ALQST for Human Rights.”
Freedom House is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to create a world where all are free.
We inform the world about threats to freedom, mobilize global action, and support democracy’s defenders.
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