Woman sentenced to 45 years in prison over Twitter posts

A Leeds Uni PHD student was recently sentenced for similar activity

Another woman from Saudi Arabia has been put in prison for more than four decades over posts she put out on social media. Norah bint Saeed al-Qahtani was convicted of "using the interest to tear the (Saudi) social fabric" and "violating public order by using social media," court documents seen by human rights group Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn) show. She is likely to have been convicted within the last week by Saudi Arabia's Specialised Criminal Court. [caption id="attachment_356362" align="alignnone" width="2048"] Details about what she said have not been released[/caption] However details surrounding Qahtani, including her age and what exactly she said on social media, remains unknown. That's why Washington-based organisation Dawn is investigating her case. Qahtani's sentencing comes only weeks after mother-of-two and Leeds University doctoral candidate Salma al-Shebab was sentenced to 34 years in prison, after she followed and retweeted activists and dissidents on Twitter. She also got a 34-year travel ban. Shebab told the Saudi court she had faced abuse and harassment while in detention, including interrogation after being given medication that exhausted her. [caption id="attachment_356365" align="alignnone" width="2048"] View over the business district along King Fahd Road in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia[/caption] The convictions have raised the alarm in other countries. On Monday, US officials said "significant concerns" had been discussed with Saudi Arabia following Sheba's sentencing.