Mohammed Alhazza Alghamdi, known as Al Hazza, is a Saudi cartoonist who was arrested in February 2018 by the Saudi authorities and accused of creating “offensive cartoons” for the Qatari media outlet Lusail, during the protracted diplomatic crisis between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain, which began in 2017, and of posting messages on social media that were “hostile” towards the Saudi regime and “favourable” to Qatar. In 2021, he was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment; in 2024, his sentence was increased to 23 years.
Al Hazza is currently serving his eighth year behind bars, accused of insulting the Saudi Government and its leaders, sympathising with Qatar, communicating with hostile entities and following opposition accounts on the social media platform “X”. The prosecution based its case on the author’s cartoons andtweetsattributed to him, although a large proportion of those messages were not his own.
Although the court acknowledged, according to documents obtained by theUK-basedhuman rights organisationSanad,that the evidence was insufficient to substantiate some of the charges, it ultimately convicted him. This isthe accountof his arrest and the charges, according to Sanad.
Al Hazza was initially sentenced to six years’ imprisonment and banned from travelling for six years. The case was subsequently reopened and a newsentence of 23years’ imprisonment was handed down,with no possibility of appeal.
Cartooning for Peace points out that the Saudi political cartoonist remains in prison for his cartoons, whilst the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, is currently on an official visit to France, at the invitation of Emmanuel Macron. It urges the French authorities to ensure that the situation of this prisoner of conscience is also included on the agenda for talks with Saudi Arabia, and that these discussions should not be limited to geopolitical considerations and commercial matters (read: his business dealings), given the state of freedom of opinion, freedom of expression and freedom of the press in that country.
As the Italian cartoonist and activist Gianluca Constantinipoints out, this case is yet another example of the growing repression of any form of dissent in Saudi Arabia since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman came to power. Mohammed al-Ghamdi was persecuted simply for being an artist – nothing more. This is a tragic situation that highlights the urgent need for international action to protect artistic freedom and human rights in Saudi Arabia.
Whilst Prince Mohammed has introduced some reforms and announced grandiose (and megalomaniacal, yet stalled) projects in an attempt to improve the kingdom’s international image and reduce its heavy dependence on oil, the reality is that anyone who voices critical opinions, even through art, faces serious consequences.
Humour in Trouble: A Collection of Cases
Cases of cartoonists who have faced significant problems because of their satirical cartoons or illustrations. There are also some stories of other people who, whilst not cartoonists themselves, have got into trouble for sharing them.
