Mohammed al-Ghamdi: 23-Year Sentence for Political Cartoons
A Saudi cartoonist named Mohammed al-Ghamdi has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for creating satirical drawings that were deemed insulting to the kingdom’s leaders.
This harsh sentence reflects a broader crackdown on dissent in Saudi Arabia under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Al-Ghamdi, who previously contributed cartoons for a Qatari newspaper, was initially arrested in 2018, but his case was reopened, leading to the extended sentence.
His drawings and social media posts reportedly included criticisms that sympathized with Qatar during the diplomatic rift between the two nations.