A man with just 37 followers is facing a brutal jail sentence over a single tweet he posted seven years ago.
The British dad is reportedly facing a huge jail term of 10 years after a deleted tweet from his social media account got him into hot water.
Ahmed al-Doush, a senior business analyst with Bank of America, was arrested in Saudi Arabia last August as he was due to catch a flight back home to the UK.
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The dad-of-four had been on a family vacation and was at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh when he was stopped by security.
According to a report by the Mirror, his wife, Amaher Nour said: “The authorities asked for his documents and we thought it was just a problem with his visa. He called me from security and told me to fly with the children on to Turkey, our transit stop, and said, ‘I’ll be with you shortly’.
“The night times are the hardest for me when I’m alone and it’s quiet. I keep asking myself why, why, why has this happened, and I can’t get to the bottom of it because it’s not rational in any way. he has no political associations.”
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For two months, al-Doush’s family were unable to contact him and his contact with them, as well as with a UK legal team, has remained heavily restricted.
Five months following his arrest, Amnesty International was informed that charges would be issued for the spreading of fake, untrue and damaging news on social media.
His family believe this is related to a tweet al-Doush posted in 2018 regarding the situation in Sudan where he made no mention of Saudi Arabia and later deleted.
The second accusation against him is that he has an association with a Saudi critic in exile, which his family have said he has no relationship with apart from knowing his son.
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Now, al-Doush has been sentenced to 10 years behind bars, with the news being broken to Nour by a state-appointed lawyer who could not tell her what her husband’s offence was.
Sacha Deshmukh, Chief Executive of Amnesty International UK said: “We strongly condemn this sentence and reiterate our urgent call on the Saudi authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Ahmed al-Doush, if he is being held solely for peacefully exercising his human rights.
“He must be allowed to return to his family in the UK without delay. In the meantime, Saudi authorities must uphold his fair trial rights, promptly share his court documents with him and guarantee regular access to both his family and legal counsel.
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“We also urge the UK government to take all necessary steps to secure his immediate and unconditional release. The arbitrary detention of another British national abroad cannot be tolerated. Immediate and decisive action is essential.”