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A Saudi artist has been sentenced to greater than twenty years in jail over political cartoons that allegedly insulted the Gulf kingdom’s management, his sister and a rights group stated this week.

The case towards Mohammed al-Hazza, 48, provides to considerations about freedom of expression underneath Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as Saudi Arabia — the world’s largest crude oil exporter — seeks to divulge heart’s contents to vacationers and buyers after years of isolation.

The daddy of 5 was arrested in February 2018 in Saudi Arabia throughout “a violent raid” wherein safety forces entered his house and ransacked his studio, the London-based Sanad Human Rights Organisation stated in a press release.

A courtroom doc says the fees towards him concern “offensive cartoons” he produced for the Qatari newspaper Lusail in addition to social media posts that had been allegedly “hostile” to Saudi Arabia and supportive of Qatar.

Mr. Hazza’s arrest got here lower than a 12 months after Saudi Arabia and a number of other allies minimize ties with Qatar, claiming it supported extremists and was too near Iran — allegations that Doha denied.

The international locations mended ties in January 2021.

Saudi Arabia’s Specialised Legal Court docket, arrange in 2008 to cope with terrorism-related circumstances, initially sentenced Mr. Hazza to 6 years in jail.

However this 12 months, as Mr. Hazza was making ready to be launched, the case was re-opened and he was sentenced to 23 years, his sister Asrar al-Hazza stated by cellphone from the U.S.

“He was nearly there… He nearly left the jail. However then out of nowhere it was opened once more and it was 23 years,” she stated.

Saudi authorities didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark concerning the case on Wednesday. Sanad stated in its assertion that Mr. Hazza labored for Lusail principally earlier than the 2017 boycott “and solely briefly afterward” and that almost all of his cartoons involved home Qatari points.

The group stated prosecutors failed to supply proof of cartoons that had been offensive to Saudi Arabia or social media posts that backed Qatar through the boycott.

Below Prince Mohammed, Saudi Arabia has been criticised for what activists describe as a fierce crackdown on even vaguely important on-line speech.

Up to now two years the Saudi judiciary has “convicted and handed down prolonged jail phrases on dozens of people for his or her expression on social media”, human rights teams Amnesty Worldwide and ALQST stated in April.

Saudi officers say the accused dedicated terrorism-related offences.

“The case of Mohammed al-Hazza is one instance of the suppression of freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia, which has not spared anybody, together with artists,” Sanad operations supervisor Samer Alshumrani advised AFP.

“That is supported by the politicised, non-independent judiciary in Saudi Arabia.”