Saudi Arabia sentences cartoonist Mohammed al-Ghamdi to 23 years

Washington, D.C., October 18, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Saudi authorities to release Mohammed al-Ghamdi, a Saudi cartoonist for the Qatar-based Lusail newspaper, who was sentenced on an undisclosed date in 2024 to 23 years in prison on charges that his cartoons were sympathetic to Qatar and insulted the Saudi government.

“By sentencing Mohammed al-Ghamdi, who has already spent six years behind bars, to an additional 23 years in prison for his cartoons, the Saudi regime has once again demonstrated its shameful commitment to targeting journalists, eroding press freedom, and terrorizing Saudi journalists both inside and outside the country,” said Yeganeh Rezaian, CPJ’s interim Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. “It is time to break this longstanding pattern of imprisoning journalists. Saudi authorities must release al-Ghamdi and drop all charges against him.”

Al-Ghamdi, who drew under the pen name Al-Hazza for Lusail, was arrested in February 2018, eight months after Saudi Arabia, along with other Middle Eastern countries, declared a boycott of Qatar. He was initially sentenced to six years in prison and a travel ban, according to Sanad, a U.K.-based human rights organization focused on Saudi Arabia. While Saudi Arabia ended its boycott of Qatar in January 2021, Al-Ghamdi remained in detention and his sentence was extended earlier in 2024, his sister told Agence France-Presse in an October 16 report.

Sanad said it believes that Al-Ghamdi has been subjected to torture and coerced into signing confessions under duress, and that he also was subjected to enforced disappearance for several months after his 2018 arrest.

In January, Saudi authorities arrested Hatem al-Najjar, host of the popular podcast “Muraba” (Square) on Thmanyah, a Saudi media platform. His detention came after pro-government social media accounts called for his arrest over old tweets that were perceived by some as critical of Saudi Arabia.

Saudia Arabia was the ninth worst jailer of journalists in CPJ’s 2023 prison census.

CPJ emailed the Saudi embassy in Washington, D.C., for comment on the reason behind Al-Ghamdi’s sentence but did not receive an immediate response.