The Leeds student Salma al-Shehab has been jailed for 34 years over Twitter messages. Governments and businesses should speak up
Hosting an Olympics is the “ultimate goal”, Saudi Arabia’s sports minister has confirmed. Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki al-Faisal was speaking as Anthony Joshua fought Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk in Jeddah on Sunday – and one day after the United Nations human rights office denounced the 34-year prison sentence handed to Salma al-Shehab, a PhD student at Leeds University, for sharing Twitter messages. It is reportedly the longest known sentence for a women’s rights activist there.
That the heavyweight title fight overshadowed her case should not surprise us. The international horror and condemnation at Jamal Khashoggi’s murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul did not last long, despite the CIA concluding that it was ordered by Mohammed bin Salman; the country’s crown prince and de facto ruler denies responsibility. Joe Biden vowed to make the country a “pariah”. But last month he bumped fists with the crown prince, for minimal noticeable return. Human rights groups warned then that the meeting would embolden the regime.
