A Saudi woman's tweets led to a 34-year prison term, reportedly the longest ever handed down to a women's rights activist. The Freedom Initiative, a non-profit organisation based in Washington, DC, stated in a statement on Friday that a Saudi terrorism court convicted a women's rights activist to 34 years in jail and a 34-year travel ban over tweets she made lauding basic rights in the country.

Salma al-Shehab, mother of two and a resident of the United Kingdom, was on a holiday trip to Saudi Arabia. Days before she could return, she was detained. “In January 2021, the mother of two young boys, aged 4 and 6, was detained while on vacation in Saudi Arabia days before she had planned to return to her residence in the United Kingdom, where she was a PhD candidate at the University of Leeds. Salma comes from the Shia Muslim minority, who have long-faced discrimination in Saudi Arabia,” the statement reads.

Salma was arrested after she publicly supported women's rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul and called for her freedom on her social media account. Salma was sentenced to six years in jail, which was extended to 34 years during her appeal.

Loujain al-Hathloul is a well-known women's rights activist who has worked to end Saudi Arabia's ban on female drivers. She was released from jail mere weeks after Salma's arrest after serving over 1000 days in prison. Despite being released from jail, she is still banned from travelling because she is accused of threatening national security.

This comes amid a rise in charges of human rights violations under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. “Saudi Arabia has boasted to the world that they are improving women’s rights and creating legal reform, but there is no question with this abhorrent sentence that the situation is only getting worse. It is, unfortunately, no surprise that MbS feels more empowered than ever in presiding over such egregious rights violations,” said Dr Bethany Al-Haidari, the Saudi case manager at the Freedom Initiative.

Terming that tweeting in solidarity with women’s rights activists is not a crime, the press release appealed to the Saudi authorities to free her so that she can take care of her children and complete her studies in the UK. It petitioned for international community support for the case and to pressurise Saudi Arabia for ‘true’ reform on women’s rights.