Family appeals for release of Tunisian woman jailed in Saudi for retweet

The sister of a Tunisian woman jailed by Saudi Arabia for retweeting a post about Lebanon's  Hezbollah movement on Friday urged Tunis authorities to intervene on her behalf.

Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia considers the Shiite group, which is backed by its archfoe Iran, a "terrorist" group.

Mahdia Marzouki, who worked as a midwife in Saudi Arabia, was arrested in 2020 after sharing a tweet about a pro-Hezbollah protest that had taken place in Tunis, her sibling Leila Marzouki told AFP.

Earlier this year, Marzouki was sentenced by a Saudi court to 30 months in jail but in September she was given a 15-year sentence following a new trial on terror charges, she said.

Marzouki is accused of "undermining the state and glorifying a terrorist group".

"We call on the (Tunisian) authorities to intervene in order to scrap the verdict and secure the release of my sister," Leila Marzouki said. 

Tunisian human rights groups have denounced the verdicts against Marzouki and demanded her release.

The verdict is "a grave violation of freedom of expression" and a "crime" against all Tunisians, the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH) said in a statement on Friday.

LTDH also urged Tunisian authorities to press Riyadh to cancel the verdict and free Marzouki, echoing similar calls by the Tunisian Observatory of Human Rights.

Human rights activists and Saudi dissidents have condemned what they describe as mounting repression of political expression in the kingdom, an absolute monarchy that does not allow protests or political opposition.

In recent weeks, Saudi courts have sentenced several people to jail for tweeting and retweeting posts critical of the government.

Among them were two Saudi women who have received decades-long sentences, and a US citizen of Saudi origin.