LONDON (Middle East Eye) – A British man is set to go before a court in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday over a deleted tweet from 2018 and a perceived association with someone deemed to be a threat to the kingdom’s national security, his family and friends told Middle East Eye.
Ahmed al-Doush, a father of four, was returning to the UK after a holiday last August when he was arrested at the airport in Riyadh, the last time he saw his wife and children.
The 41-year-old was held for more than five months, including 33 days in solitary confinement during which he was interrogated, before he was brought before a judge in late January and told that charges were being brought.
After his first court appearance, Saudi authorities assigned Doush a lawyer and the two men have had one virtual meeting about his case, Doush has told his family.
However, when his wife, Amaher Nour, reached the lawyer by phone, he denied any knowledge of the case or of her husband, she told Middle East Eye. The lawyer had since been more receptive, but said he is limited in what he can say because of data protection.
“Now, I am waiting for Ahmed to get the chance to speak to his lawyer again, so that he can give him permission to share the details of the case with me,” Nour said.
This is the latest twist in an ordeal that has repeatedly left Doush’s family and friends struggling to know how to help him and, for stretches of time, even where or how he is.
It’s also a jarring reminder that arrests in Saudi Arabia over social media posts are still occurring, despite the recent release of dozens of prisoners, including Salma al-Shehab, a Leeds University doctoral candidate, and Assad al-Ghamdi, the brother of a UK-based dissident, both sentenced over tweets.
The case is also raising questions about the British government’s commitment to its electoral pledge to strengthen support for citizens held abroad, particularly in cases in which there are concerns of human rights violations.