Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Salma al-Shehab sentenced to 34 years in prison for using Twitter was reported via Saudi state app: Report

The researcher was pursuing her PhD in dental treatment at the University of Leeds

Salma al-Shehab sentenced to 34 years in prison for using Twitter was reported via Saudi state app: Report

The researcher jailed in her native Saudi Arabia over her Twitter activities had been denounced to authorities in the Middle-Eastern kingdom via the crime reporting app, known as Kollona Amn.

A Saudi appeals court earlier this month sentenced Salma al-Shehab to 34 years in prison for aiding dissidents who sought to "disrupt public order" in the kingdom. She has also been banned from travelling abroad for a further 34 years.

The mother of two was pursuing her PhD in dental treatment at the University of Leeds when she was arrested during her holidays in Saudi Arabia in 2021.

When a verified Twitter handle announced the launch of a new network of buses in the oil-rich kingdom in October 2019, Shehab responded by tweeting “finally!”, according to a Guardian report.

More than a year later, a Twitter user identifying himself as Faisal OTB, reacted to her tweet calling it “rubbish” and saying he had reported the post to authorities on the Kollona Amn app.

Faisal also wished she would be deported to Palestine.

But Shehab responded by saying it would not be a bad idea to go to Palestine, where she could visit the Holy Mosque in Jerusalem.

However, she was arrested during her visit to the kingdom soon after and was accused of using a website to “cause public unrest” helping those who “seek to cause public unrest and destabilise civil and national security” with her social media activities.

The reporting of her tweets has raised concerns about a “new phase of digital authoritarianism”.

London-based rights group ALQST slammed Shehab’s arrest for her “peaceful activism” and said the “extraordinary length of her prison term” went well beyond the Saudi authorities’ already excessively harsh standards of repression”.

The organisation feared the sentencing could signal a new trend that the Saudi authorities would follow to punish all who criticised their policies.

The University of Leeds said it was exploring what it could do to support Shehab and sympathised with her family.

More For You

F-35B jet

The UK has agreed to move the aircraft to the Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility at the airport.

Indian Air Force

F-35B jet still stranded in Kerala, UK sends engineers for repair

UK AVIATION engineers are arriving in Thiruvananthapuram to carry out repairs on an F-35B Lightning jet belonging to the Royal Navy, which has remained grounded after an emergency landing 12 days ago.

The jet is part of the HMS Prince of Wales Carrier Strike Group of the UK's Royal Navy. It made the emergency landing at Thiruvananthapuram airport on June 14. The aircraft, valued at over USD 110 million, is among the most advanced fighter jets in the world.

Keep ReadingShow less
Ahmedabad air crash
Relatives carry the coffin of a victim, who was killed in the Air India Flight 171 crash, during a funeral ceremony in Ahmedabad on June 15, 2025. (Photo: Getty Images)

Ahmedabad crash: Grief, denial and trauma haunt families

TWO weeks after the crash of Air India flight AI-171 in Ahmedabad, families of victims are grappling with grief and trauma. Psychiatrists are now working closely with many who continue to oscillate between denial and despair.

The crash occurred on June 12, when the London-bound flight hit the BJ Medical College complex shortly after takeoff, killing 241 people on board and 29 on the ground. Only one passenger survived.

Keep ReadingShow less
Starmer apologises for 'island of strangers' immigration speech

Prime minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at The British Chambers of Commerce Global Annual Conference in London on June 26, 2025. (Photo by EDDIE MULHOLLAND/AFP via Getty Images)

Starmer apologises for 'island of strangers' immigration speech

PRIME MINISTER Sir Keir Starmer has admitted he was wrong to warn that Britain could become an "island of strangers" due to high immigration, saying he "deeply" regrets the controversial phrase.

Speaking to The Observer, Sir Keir said he would not have used those words if he had known they would be seen as echoing the language of Enoch Powell's notorious 1968 "rivers of blood" speech.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sir Sajid Javid leads commission 'tackling social divisions'

Sir Sajid Javid (Photo by Tom Nicholson-WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Sir Sajid Javid leads commission 'tackling social divisions'

A cross-party group has been formed to tackle the deep divisions that sparked last summer's riots across England. The new commission will be led by former Tory minister Sir Sajid Javid and ex-Labour MP Jon Cruddas.

The Independent Commission on Community and Cohesion has backing from both prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch. It brings together 19 experts from different political parties and walks of life.

Keep ReadingShow less
​Masum

Masum was seen on CCTV trying to steer the pram away and, when she refused to go with him, stabbed her multiple times before walking away and boarding a bus. (Photo: West Yorkshire Police)

West Yorkshire Police

Habibur Masum convicted of murdering estranged wife in front of baby

A MAN who stabbed his estranged wife to death in Bradford in front of their baby has been convicted of murder.

Habibur Masum, 26, attacked 27-year-old Kulsuma Akter in broad daylight on April 6, 2024, stabbing her more than 25 times while she pushed their seven-month-old son in a pram. The baby was not harmed.

Keep ReadingShow less