400 academics, staff and research students from UK universities and colleges have signed an open letter calling on the government to take urgent action in the case of University of Leeds PhD candidate and Saudi women’s rights activist Salma al-Shehab, who was recently sentenced in Saudi Arabia to 34 years in prison for her peaceful activity on Twitter.

The letter, which has been signed by almost 100 individuals from the University of Leeds itself, along with others from over 50 universities and colleges in the United Kingdom, calls on Prime Minister Liz Truss and Foreign Secretary James Cleverly to publicly condemn Salma al-Shehab’s sentencing and make representations to their Saudi counterparts for her immediate release.

Al-Shehab, a 34-year-old mother of two children, is a dental hygienist and PhD student at the University of Leeds. She has residence in the UK, but was arrested in Saudi Arabia while on holiday there on 15 January 2021, placed in solitary confinement, and questioned at length over a period of 285 days before finally being brought to court.

In April 2022, she was sentenced to six years in prison, after a grossly unfair trial. Following an appeal in the Specialised Criminal Court (SCC) her sentence was extended on 9 August 2022 to 34 years, to be followed by a 34-year travel ban. The charges against al-Shehab related solely to her peaceful activity on Twitter, where she tweeted in support of women’s rights, basic freedoms and prisoners of conscience in Saudi Arabia.

Al-Shehab’s sentence comes amid an unprecedented slew of lengthy sentences handed down in the Saudi courts over the past two months. This follows the recent diplomatic rehabilitation of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman, who had been largely shunned by world leaders since the state-sponsored murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. 

The academics’ letter calls on the UK, as a close ally of Saudi Arabia, to use its considerable influence to help secure al-Shehab’s release. It concludes: 

“Salma should be looking forward, like us, to the new academic year, instead of languishing behind bars for the ‘crime’ of tweeting her legitimate opinions. She must be freed, reunited with her family, and allowed to finish her PhD in the UK.” 

ALQST too calls on the Saudi authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Salma al-Shehab and other prisoners of conscience detained for their peaceful activism, and to drop all charges against them.