A fellow cartoonist from Saudi Arabia, Mohammed al-Ghamdi, has been sentenced to 23 years in prison, as reported by an activist group. Mohammed, who drew under the pseudonym Al-Hazza, worked for years for a Qatari newspaper during the long diplomatic crisis between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and Bahrain, which began in 2017.
His cartoons, which sometimes touched on political and social issues in the Middle East, led to an initial six-year sentence by Saudi Arabia’s Specialized Criminal Court. The charges included allegedly insulting the kingdom—charges Mohammed has always denied. Recently, his case was reopened, and his sentence was extended to 23 years, without the possibility of appeal, according to the human rights organization SANAD.
This case is yet another example of the growing crackdown on any form of dissent in Saudi Arabia since the rise of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Mohammed al-Ghamdi was targeted simply for being an artist, nothing more. This is a tragic situation that highlights the urgent need for international action to protect artistic freedom and human rights in Saudi Arabia.
While Prince Mohammed has initiated some reforms and grandiose projects to improve the kingdom’s global image, the reality is that anyone who expresses critical views, even through art, risks severe consequences.
Mohammed used art as a tool to tell his story and the world around him, and for that, he has been silenced. Now more than ever, we need solidarity to protect freedom of expression and to support those like him who have been unjustly targeted.
The information found in this text has been sourced from “A Saudi cartoonist has been sentenced to 23 years in prison, activists say” by JON GAMBRELL for Associated Press News.
