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June 14, 2025 – Saudi Arabia –
Saudi authorities executed journalist Turki al‑Jasser on June 14, 2025, following a seven‑year detention after his 2018 arrest. The Interior Ministry confirmed the execution via the Saudi Press Agency, stating that the kingdom’s top court upheld convictions against him for “treason,” “terrorism,” “foreign collaboration,” and “undermining national unity”.
Al‑Jasser, in his late 40s, had been charged primarily due to his alleged operation of a social‑media account on X (formerly Twitter), which posted claims of corruption within the royal family and controversial commentary about militant groups. His arrest involved a raid at his home where authorities seized his devices. The trial was conducted in secret, with very little transparency on procedure, whereabouts, or duration.
Human rights advocates and journalist organizations strongly condemn the execution. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) denounced it as further evidence of Saudi Arabia’s repression of media voices, asserting that the unresolved 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi—even after international outrage—had emboldened Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to intensify crackdowns.. CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna remarked that the lack of justice in Khashoggi’s case “emboldened” the regime.
Similarly, Jeed Basyouni of Reprieve criticized the execution as enforced in “total secrecy” and emblematic of the kingdom’s zero‑tolerance for criticism, especially of the Crown Prince.
Al‑Jasser was a known commentator on sensitive social issues, blogging from 2013 to 2015 about the Arab Spring, women’s rights, and corruption. His death marks a grim continuation of Saudi Arabia’s escalation in capital punishment. In 2024, approximately 330 executions were recorded, many by beheading—a figure sharply up from 172 in the previous year.
The execution also coincides with other high-profile cases in the kingdom: last month, a Bank of America analyst received a ten‑year sentence for a deleted social‑media post, and in 2021, Saad Almadi—a dual Saudi‑American national—was handed nearly 20 years over Twitter posts (though later released in 2023).
Al‑Jasser’s execution has sparked global outrage, drawing renewed focus on Saudi Arabia’s harsh penalties for dissent and raising urgent calls from international groups for due‑process reforms and halts to politically motivated capital sentences.
Reference –
Saudi Arabia executes journalist Turki al-Jasser on treason, terrorism charges
