“We have made it clear to him that freedom of expression is a universal human right that all people are entitled to,” Mr Price said, adding that it “should never be criminalized or punished.”
“We have made it clear to him that freedom of expression is a universal human right that all people are entitled to,” Mr Price said, adding that it “should never be criminalized or punished.”
The State Department said on Monday that the United States has raised “significant concerns” with Saudi Arabia over the 34-year prison sentence for women’s rights activist Salma al-Shahab.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said of the sentencing of a Saudi woman for following and retweeting dissidents and activists on Twitter, “We have raised our important concerns with Saudi officials.”
“We have made it clear to him that freedom of expression is a universal human right that all people are entitled to,” Mr Price said, adding that it “should never be criminalized or punished.”
The Saudi embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Earlier this month a Saudi court imposed a 34-year prison term on Shehab and a 34-year travel ban for her tweets, according to The Freedom Initiative, a Washington-based human rights group.
The group said the prison sentence imposed on a mother of two and a doctoral candidate at the University of Leeds in Britain is the longest ever given to a Saudi women’s rights activist.
The group said Shehab, a member of the kingdom’s Shia Muslim minority, was detained while on holiday in Saudi Arabia in January 2021, when she was about to return to Britain.
Tensions over oil-rich Saudi Arabia’s human rights record have strengthened its ties with the United States, including the 2018 murders of women’s rights and dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul.
The US intelligence community assesses that the real Saudi ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was behind the murder of Khashoggi, a US resident who wrote for the Washington Post.
Riyadh denied the allegation.
US President Joe Biden faced criticism for visiting Saudi Arabia in June. During the visit, he said he told the Crown Prince that he held him responsible for Khashoggi’s murder.