A British father with a paltry 37 social media followers has been sentenced to 10 years in a Saudi Arabia jail for posting a tweet.
Ahmed al-Doush, a senior business analyst at Bank of America, had lived in Manchester with his wife and children before the day of his arrest.
Plain clothes officers detained the Sudan-born father of four as he prepared to fly home to the UK from King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on August 31 last year with his family, The Guardian reported.
He was subsequently held in a maximum security prison under the country’s strict anti-terrorism laws, on charges that included criticising the government on social media and associating with a London-based Saudi dissident.
The analyst, who lives with a chronic thyroid condition and back injury, was put in solitary confinement for 33 days after his arrest and denied consular assistance as well as access to legal representation for more than two months.
He has now been jailed for a decade after a state-appointed lawyer told his wife on Monday, Amaher Nour, that he had been convicted of an offence at a hearing but that he could not tell her what it was, The Times reports.
The case was discussed by the UK foreign secretary David Lammy with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, though details of their call were not disclosed.
Mr al-Doush had not met his baby son Youssef, after missing the birth in December due to his detention.
Ahmed al-Doush, a British citizen who worked as a business analyst at Bank of America, has been jailed for ten years after being detained in Saudi Arabia last August over a now-deleted Tweet
Al-Doush was arrested while preparing to fly home to the UK from King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh (pictured) on 31 August last year with his family
Al-Doush (pictured here outside Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium with two friends) has yet to meet his baby son who was born in December
His wife was pregnant with their forth child when al-Doush was arrested – though he insisted that she and their three children board their flight back without him.
Ms Nour told The Times: ‘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”.’
It was only once the family touched down in Manchester that they received confirmation al-Doush had been imprisoned.
He was reportedly blocked from having any contact with his family until November 17 2024 – almost three months after he was first detained.
That month he appeared in Saudi court for the first time and was allowed a visit from British consulate officials.
It has been reported the Foreign Office were refused access to the trial, but it is understood that they did in fact have access to Al-Doush’s most recent prior hearing.
He has been represented in the UK by the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Reprieve, who have campaigned extensively for the end of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia.
The group penned a letter to the UK foreign secretary David Lammy, the MP for Tottenham, advocating for Al Doush and received a reply back from a Foreign Office official.
Al Doush is believed to have been detained in relation to a deleted Tweet about the war in Sudan, his homeland, which provided military support for Saudi Arabia in its ongoing conflict with Yemen
A letter from the Foreign Office to the civil rights group Reprieve confirmed UK foreign secretary David Lammy was aware of Al Doush’s case
Mr Lammy has reportedly discussed the case with his Saudi counterpart, foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, though details of the call were not revealed
The response reportedly stated that while Al Doush’s detention was difficult for the family, the Foreign Office ‘cannot interfere in another country’s legal processes and must respect their systems, nor can we get British nationals out of jail’.
However, the official is believed to have confirmed that Mr Lammy is familiar with the case and added that British officials have repeatedly petitioned Riyadh over the conditions of Al Doush’s detention.
Al Doush’s UK lawyer Haydee Dijkstal, a barrister at 33 Bedford Row Chambers, emphasised prior to his trial it was unclear what he was being charged with or what the timeline was with his case.
He is believed to have been detained in relation to a deleted Tweet from 2018 about the war in Sudan, his homeland, which provided military support for Saudi Arabia in its ongoing conflict with Yemen.
Al Doush has not posted about Saudi Arabia on his X account and only had 37 followers.
However, it is thought the Saudis may also have objected to his friendship with the son of a Saudi dissident – with whom his family say he did not talk politics.
‘The night times are the hardest for me when I’m alone and it’s quiet,’ Ms Nour told The Times.
‘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.’
Al Doush’s lawyer Ms Dijkstal told The Guardian: ‘Under international law, a detained person has the right to be promptly informed of both the reasons for arrest and continued detention and of the charges.
‘This obligation not only means that the state must inform the detained person of the law and provision under which they are charged, but also the facts and evidence that form the charge.
‘Over three months since Al-Doush was charged, and with indications of his trial nearing conclusion and a judgment imminent, it is still not clear whether the tweet allegedly supports the charge against him.
‘This reality is not only in direct contradiction of the most basic principles of due process, but is exacerbated by information of numerous other fair trial and due process violations in his case.’
Al Doush has reportedly also not been allowed to select his own legal council in Saudi Arabia.
It was reported in March that he was granted a single phone call at 6am every Wednesday with his wife, but was instructed by prison officers not to discuss his hearings or conditions he was experiencing in jail.
Since Al Doush was working on short term contracts with Bank of America, his extended detention has also plunged the family into financial difficulties, with his wife back in the UK forced to use food banks to get by.
A FCDO spokesman said: ‘We are supporting a British man who is detained in Saudia Arabia and are in contact with his family and the local authorities.’
The Saudi Arabian embassy in London have been contacted for comment.
