Saudi Arabia executes a journalist after 7 years in prison
Turki Al-Jasser ran a personal blog from 2013 to 2015 and was well known for his articles on the Arab spring, women’s rights, and corruption
A prominent Saudi journalist who was arrested in 2018 and convicted on terrorism and treason charges has been executed, the kingdom said. Activist groups maintain that the charges against him were trumped up.
Turki Al-Jasser was put to death on Saturday, according to the official Saudi Press Agency, after the death penalty was upheld by the nation’s top court.
Authorities had raided Al-Jasser’s home in 2018, arresting him and seizing his computer and phones. It was not clear where his trial took place or how long it lasted.
According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, Saudi authorities maintained that Al-Jasser was behind a social media account on X, formerly Twitter, that levied corruption allegations against Saudi royals. Al-Jasser was also said to have posted several controversial tweets about militants and militant groups.
CPJ’s programme director Carlos Martínez de la Serna condemned the execution and said the lack of accountability in the wake of the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018 allows for continued persecution of journalists in the kingdom.
“The international community’s failure to deliver justice for Jamal Khashoggi did not just betray one journalist,” he said, adding it had “emboldened de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to continue his persecution of the press.”