A British father of four has been sentenced to 10 years in a Saudi Arabian prison over what appears to be a deleted tweet from seven years ago.
Ahmed al-Doush, a banking analyst at Bank of America, was arrested in August 2023 and recently received his sentence, though specific charges remain unclear even to British officials who attended the court hearing.
As reported in the Economic Times of India, Saudi officials said Doush's tweet, which was about Sudan broke its terrorism and cybercrime laws. But his family suspects the real reason he was arrested is because he is a friend of a Saudi critic's son.
His wife Amaher Nour, who gave birth to their fourth child during his detention, has only had brief contact with him through sporadic phone calls, as reported in The Guardian.
Doush is being held in what his wife describes as "an overcrowded cell that is filthy," with limited access to consular services. The British Foreign Office has provided only three consular visits since August and withheld information from Doush's family, citing data protection rules.
Jeed Basyouni, head of human rights group Reprieve, told The Guardian: "This is what can happen when the UK government fails to stand up for the rights of its citizens arbitrarily detained overseas. A British man was abducted in front of his family and disappeared into a Saudi jail on charges unknown, and for eight months the Foreign Office failed to do what was needed and seek his release. When a British national is convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison and neither his family nor his lawyer nor the Foreign Office know of what crime he has been accused something has gone very badly wrong."
Previously:
• 21,000 laborers so far dead building NEOM, Saudi Arabia's futuristic city in the desert
• Trump approved Saudi Arabia nuclear technology permits twice after Khashoggi murder
• Here's John Oliver's take on the disappearance of Saudi journalist in Istanbul
• U.S. got $100 million from Saudi Arabia on the same day Pompeo was in Riyadh
