Dissident Spotlight: Saied bin Nasser al-Ghamdi
Mohammad bin Salman has targeted Saied bin Nasser al-Ghamdi's family as a result of his outspoken opposition to Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses.
One of the greatest cruelties a dictator can inflict on a dissident is punishing a loved one.
Saied bin Nasser al-Ghamdi is a Muslim cleric who lives in the United Kingdom. He has criticized his home country, Saudi Arabia, for its crackdowns on dissent and other human rights abuses.
On June 11, 2022, Saudi officials arrested Saied’s brother, Muhammad al-Ghamdi. He posted five tweets critical of the government’s corruption to an account with fewer than 10 followers. For that, he was sentenced first to death, then to 30 years in prison. He was 54 years old when he was arrested, so either sentence would likely kill him.
According to PEN America, Saied bin Nasser’s older brother, Assad al-Ghamdi, was also arrested in 2022. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison but was released on Valentine’s Day, 2025.
No Justice or Compassion Without Facts
Muhammad was charged with, among other things, “describing the King or the Crown Prince in a way that undermines religion or justice.” This charge came from a ruler who is happy to use draconian punishments that don’t come close to matching the “crime” a citizen of his country has committed.
What injustice really looks like is condemning a family member of a hated dissident to death, not identifying a leader’s many faults.
There are lessons for people resisting autocracies in countries with less severe punishments, too. Obvious ones are that speaking out against wrongdoings can endanger family and friends. These are risks that must be taken to effectively resist a dictator, though the cost can be overwhelming for individuals.
A subtler one is that a country cannot have justice with a leader who cannot engage with facts. Dictators can defend their actions by lying about dangers ordinary people pose to them, but a democratic leader who lacks the ability to engage with truth will end up acting cruelly, sometimes through beliefs he holds, other times through sheer accident.
Understanding facts and their consequences allows a leader to see real threats when they appear and leave innocent people alone. A refusal to either acknowledge those facts or be bound by them is the foundation of the road to tyranny.