human rights defender
Nourah Al-Qahtani
Actions and Campaigns
Nourah Al-Qahtani
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER
HRD's year of birth
1972
HRD's Gender
Woman
Type of HRD
- Journalist/Blogger
HRD's thematic area of engagement
- Civil and political rights
Current Status
In prison (sentenced)
HRD's bio and work
Nourah Al-Qahtani is a mother of five daughters who used Twitter to show solidarity with political prisoners and call for their release.
Detained since
Apr 7, 2021
Charge(s)
- Creating disturbances
- Subversion
- Terrorism
Sentence
45 years in prison
Latitude: 23.234615246688765
Longitude: 44.45068359375001
Geolocation of detention
Country or area of detention
Region of detention
- Asia: Western Asia
Allegations / reports of ill-treatment
Not much has been known about Al-Qahtani’s conditions of arrest, custody and pre-trial detention. But upon intial court order, Al-Qahtani had her phone and sim card confiscated and both of her Twitter accounts shut down, in accordance with article 58 of the Counter-Terrorism Law. The court further ordered that a book in her possession, authored by detained Saudi scholar and prisoner of conscience Salman Al-Odah, to be confiscated.
Recent case update / evolution
On February 22, 2022, Al-Qahtani was sentenced to 13 years in prison, with half of the sentence suspended, by the SCC, based on articles 43 and 46 of Law on Combatting Terrorism Crimes and its Financing, and to a 13-year travel ban, based on article 53(1) of the same Law. On March 22, 2022, prosecutors filed an appeal of Al-Qahtani's sentence, in which they levied additional charges, including article 6 of the Anti-Cybercrime Law, which prohibits storing materials impinging on public order and religious values, and articles 30, 34, 35, 38, 43, 44 and 57 of the Anti-Terrorism Law. On August 9, 2022, Al-Qahtani was sentenced to 45 years in prison by Saudi Arabia’s Specialised Criminal Court of Appeal. The judges of the Specialised Criminal Court of Appeal upheld the initial sentence and further sentenced Al-Qahtani to a 45-year travel ban, under article 53 of the Counter-Terrorism Law.
As of September 2024, Al-Qahtani is undergoing retrial.
Attachments
Documented by
- Country(ies) of nationality
- HRD's year of birth
- 1972
- HRD's Gender
- Woman
- Type of HRD
- Journalist/Blogger
- HRD's thematic area of engagement
- Civil and political rights
- HRD's Picture
- HRD's bio and work
Nourah Al-Qahtani is a mother of five daughters who used Twitter to show solidarity with political prisoners and call for their release.
- Country or area of detention
- Region of detention
- Asia: Western Asia
- Geolocation of detention
Latitude: 23.234615246688765
Longitude: 44.45068359375001
- Geolocation of detention
- Detained since
- Apr 7, 2021
- Current Status
- In prison (sentenced)
- Charge(s)
- Creating disturbances
- Subversion
- Terrorism
- Sentence
45 years in prison
- Recent case update / evolution
On February 22, 2022, Al-Qahtani was sentenced to 13 years in prison, with half of the sentence suspended, by the SCC, based on articles 43 and 46 of Law on Combatting Terrorism Crimes and its Financing, and to a 13-year travel ban, based on article 53(1) of the same Law. On March 22, 2022, prosecutors filed an appeal of Al-Qahtani's sentence, in which they levied additional charges, including article 6 of the Anti-Cybercrime Law, which prohibits storing materials impinging on public order and religious values, and articles 30, 34, 35, 38, 43, 44 and 57 of the Anti-Terrorism Law. On August 9, 2022, Al-Qahtani was sentenced to 45 years in prison by Saudi Arabia’s Specialised Criminal Court of Appeal. The judges of the Specialised Criminal Court of Appeal upheld the initial sentence and further sentenced Al-Qahtani to a 45-year travel ban, under article 53 of the Counter-Terrorism Law.
As of September 2024, Al-Qahtani is undergoing retrial.
- Allegations / reports of ill-treatment
Not much has been known about Al-Qahtani’s conditions of arrest, custody and pre-trial detention. But upon intial court order, Al-Qahtani had her phone and sim card confiscated and both of her Twitter accounts shut down, in accordance with article 58 of the Counter-Terrorism Law. The court further ordered that a book in her possession, authored by detained Saudi scholar and prisoner of conscience Salman Al-Odah, to be confiscated.
- Protection actions and campaigns
- Documented by
- Consent status
- Consent to register, store and publish the information
Supporting files
sorted by
Date added
5 relationships, 4 entities