Saudi Arabia judges' 45-year prison sentence on Nourah bint Saeed al-Qahtani for social media posts is an affront to justice that should shock the free world – Scotsman comment

Freedom of speech is an absolutely fundamental right.

Boris Johnson shakes hands with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a visit to Saudi Arabia in March (Picture: Stefan Rousseau/pool/AFP via Getty Images)

It is central to the scientific method that has achieved so much for humanity; it enables artistic expression and the exchange of new ideas to enhance our understanding of the human condition; and it is the means by which we peacefully resolve the most difficult issues.

Furthermore, it acts as an all-important test of freedom in general. When Putin’s government passed a law threatening people who speak out against the government’s invasion of Ukraine with 15 years in prison, he confirmed he is a dictator.

So the decision by a court in Saudi Arabia to sentence a woman, Nourah bint Saeed al-Qahtani, to 45 years in prison for something she wrote on social media speaks volumes about that country’s regime.

It is not clear what al-Qahtani wrote to attract such a lengthy sentence. The judges accused her of “disrupting the cohesion of society” and “destabilising the social fabric”.

The Washington-based human-rights watchdog Democracy for the Arab World Now warned there appeared to be the “beginning of a new wave of sentences and convictions” by a special criminal court.

Some in Scotland might think this has got little to do with us. However Allison McManus, of the human-rights group Freedom Initiative, pointed out that it was “very hard to ignore the fact that we are seeing these sentences as [Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman] has received increased legitimacy in the international realm”.

How the rest of the world treats Saudi Arabia’s rulers has a real impact on their treatment of its people.

Toleration of such tyranny – and, worse, complicity – will embolden authoritarian leaders in other countries to crack down on dissent to secure their own power. Those who lack a democratic mandate or who have corrupted the election process are permanently accompanied by the fear that they will be ousted, which can lead to paranoia and increasingly brutal repression.

This is one reason why we must defend the right to free speech, at home and abroad. Another is that the fate of each and every one of us is important and Nourah bint Saeed al-Qahtani does not deserve her life to be so cruelly and unjustly blighted by usurpers who have stolen the power of the people they hold in chains.