Prominent Saudi journalist Turki Al-Jasser, who was arrested in 2018 and convicted on terrorism and treason charges, has been executed by Saudi authorities, drawing widespread condemnation from human rights and press freedom groups who argue he was wrongly convicted.
According to the Saudi Press Agency, Al-Jasser was executed on Saturday after the death penalty was upheld by the country’s highest court.
Al-Jasser was reportedly arrested following a raid on his home, during which his computer and mobile phones were confiscated. He was taken to an undisclosed location, where his trial was conducted in secrecy.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and other advocacy groups had long expressed concern over Al-Jasser’s detention and prosecution. He was alleged to be the person behind a pseudonymous social media account on X (formerly Twitter), which reportedly posted corruption allegations against members of the Saudi royal family and shared controversial opinions about militant groups.
“Al-Jasser’s execution once again demonstrates that in Saudi Arabia, the punishment for criticizing or questioning Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is death,” said Jeed Basyouni, head of the Middle East and North Africa division at Reprieve, an international anti-death penalty organization.
Basyouni further stated that Al-Jasser had been “tried and convicted in total secrecy for the ‘crime’ of journalism.”
Turki Al-Jasser gained prominence for his writings during the Arab Spring between 2011 and 2015 and maintained a personal blog that critiqued authoritarianism in the region. His death marks yet another grim chapter in the kingdom’s crackdown on dissent.
