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Saudi Charged for “Down with the House of Saud” Tweet

Categories: Middle East & North Africa, Saudi Arabia, Freedom of Speech, Human Rights, Law

Bader Thawab [1] is a Saudi Twitter user who was arrested back in September 2012 after writing tweets calling for the fall of the monarchistic Saudi regime. He was also one of those who live-tweeted from the first few hearing sessions of Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) trial [2].

Journalist Iman al-Qahtani [3] managed to get a leaked copy of the list of charges that he faces.

She tweeted [ar]:

سأقوم بنشر لائحة الإتهام ضد المعتقل #بدر_ثواب لاحقا وهي عبارة عن صفحتين وصلتني عن طريق التسريب وبصعوبة شديدة

@ImaQh [4]: I will publish the list of charges against the detainee Bader Thawab later on. It consists of two pages and I managed to get a leaked copy with difficulty.

The first page of the charges, via @ImaQh [5]

The first page of the charges, via @ImaQh [6]

Today she published the two pages (one [7] and two [8]). The interrogation summery states [ar]:

وبمواجهته أنه ورد في حسابه في التويتر عبارة (يسقط آل سعود) وما قصد منها ولماذا قام بكتابتها، أفاد بأنه فعلا قام بكتابتها في حسابه في التويتر، وأنه يقصد منها أن يسقط كنظام حكم لا كأفراد عائلة حيث أنه لا يؤيد نظام ولاية العهد وتوريث الحكم وأفاد أنه يتابع أشخاصا منهم د. المسعري ود. عبد الله الحامد ود. محمد القحطاني.

..and when he was asked about a statement on his Twitter account, “down with the house of Saud,” and what he meant and why he wrote it he said that he did in fact write it on his Twitter account and that he meant down with the regime, not family members, because he does not support the [presence of a] crown prince and the hereditary monarchy and he said that he follows people including Dr. al-Masari [9], Dr. Abdullah al-Hamid [10] and Dr. Mohammad al-Qahtani [11].

All three are political opponents. The first of whom, al-Masari [12], has been in exile since 1994. The other two are among the co-founders of the ACPRA.

He was charged:

بكتابة عبارات في موقع التواصل الاجتماعي (تويتر) فيها إثارة وشق للوحدة ومتابعة مثيري الفتنة ومخالفة ولي الأمر.

with writing statements in social media website Twitter that incite public opinion and disturb national unity and following tempters and disobeying the ruler.

The public prosecutor demanded applying Article 6 of the Cybercrime Act [13] [ar], the punishment of which is:

يعاقب بالسجن مدة لا تزيد على خمس سنوات وبغرامة لا تزيد على ثلاثة ملايين أو بإحدى هاتين العقوبتين

Imprisonment for up to five years and a fine of up to three million riyals [~800,000USD], or one of these two punishments.