Last year, Saudi teacher Asaad al-Ghamdi was given 20 years in prison for criticising the government online — one of a wave of heavy sentences that drew international condemnation.
Last month he was unexpectedly released, joining dozens of political prisoners to be freed as the authorities seek to improve their image overseas.
According to an AFP tally, more than 30 dissidents, many jailed for social media posts, have been released since December, in an apparent rollback of “bad laws” singled out by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler.
“Some judges think they’re pleasing the government by issuing 30-year prison sentences for a tweet,” one source close to the government told AFP.
“The crown prince did not ask for that and he is not pleased with it.”
Even fringe figures with small online followings have been handed multi-decade sentences by Saudi Arabia’s Specialised Criminal Court, which handles terrorism cases.
While there are signs of an apparent shift, many dissidents remain behind bars.
Analysts have said recent releases are likely part of a bid by Saudi rulers to soften their image abroad, rather than of any systemic reform.
Among those swept up in the crackdown was Salma al-Shehab, a University of Leeds PhD student and mother of two, who received a 34-year term in 2022 before it was commuted to four years in 2024.
Shehab, who had posted in support of women’s rights to her 2,600 followers on X, then Twitter, was released last month after serving the reduced term.
Mother-of-five Nourah al-Qahtani, whose anonymous X account had fewer than 600 followers, saw an initial six-and-a-half-year sentence jump to 45 years on appeal in 2022.
Fitness blogger Manahel al-Otaibi received an 11-year sentence in January 2024 for, according to rights groups, challenging male guardianship laws and requirements for women to wear the body-shrouding abaya robe.
The draconian punishments jarred with efforts to repackage ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, as a business and tourism hub.
But the tide appeared to turn after Ghamdi’s brother Mohammed, a retired teacher who had criticised the government online, received the death sentence in 2023.
Prince Mohammed later told Fox News he was “ashamed” and “not happy” about the case, saying Saudi Arabia was working to change certain “bad laws”.
That year, Prince Mohammed set up a committee to review political cases, some of whom were dealt “severe injustice”, said the source.
Last August, Mohammed al-Ghamdi’s death sentence was overturned on appeal, although he was sentenced to 30 years jail the following month.
Among recent releases was rights defender Mohammed al-Qahtani who was freed in January, more than two years after his 10-year sentence expired.
Also freed were university student Malik al-Ahmed and preacher Mohammed al-Habdan, both arrested during a widespread round-up in September 2017.
“What we’re seeing now is the result of this committee’s ongoing work to ensure justice,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Saudi Arabia achieved worldwide notoriety after the murder and dismemberment of US-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a government critic, at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
A UN probe accused Saudi Arabia of organising the killing, and US intelligence agencies alleged that Prince Mohammed approved the operation. Riyadh denied the accusation and blamed rogue operatives.
The furore eventually faded and Saudi Arabia has since hosted several Western leaders.
Umar Karim, a Saudi expert at Britain’s University of Birmingham, said conditions are “ripe for sending a positive gesture to Saudi dissidents outside the kingdom” now that Prince Mohammed and his father King Salman, crowned in 2015, have consolidated their power.
“As the kingdom is emerging as a critical player in global politics… improving its reputation in the human rights domain seems to be a pertinent strategy.”
After repairing relations with Iran and hosting US-Russia and US-Ukraine talks, prisoner releases “generate further goodwill”, Karim said.
But many critics remain behind bars, including prominent clerics Salman al-Awdah and Awad al-Qarni, both detained in 2017.
Awdah’s son Abdullah Alaoudh, who heads the Washington-based Middle East Democracy Center, welcomed the releases, saying he hoped Riyadh would end “arbitrary detention and the arrest of prisoners of conscience once and for all”. In a televised interview this month, state security chief Abdul Aziz bin Mohammed Al-Howairini assured exiled dissidents they could return “without punishment”.
But cleric Saeed bin Nasser al-Ghamdi, the brother of Asaad and Mohammed, who lives in self-imposed exile in London, said a total overhaul was needed before critics could return.
The absolute monarchy does not tolerate political opposition, has no elected parliament and judges are appointed by royal decree.
Saudi Arabia needs “comprehensive reforms… including political participation, judicial independence and general freedoms without exception”, Ghamdi said.
“Otherwise any steps would remain superficial.”