Nourah al-Qahtani
Nourah al-Qahtani | |
|---|---|
نورة القحطاني | |
| Citizenship | Saudi Arabia |
| Occupation | Academic |
| Known for | Forty-five year prison sentence for alleged criticism of the Saudi Arabian government |
| Academic background | |
| Education | University of Leeds |
| Thesis | The Dynamics of Interpretive Communities and the Contemporary Saudi Novel: A Study in the Reception of Abdo Khal, Raja Alem, Rajaa Alsanea and Yousef al-Mohaimeed (2017) |
| Doctoral advisor | James Dickens Sameh Hanna Soliman |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Literature |
| Sub-discipline | Arabic literature |
| Institutions | King Saud University |
| Main interests | Saudi literature Arab Spring in culture |
Nourah bint Saeed al-Qahtani, also Noura Saeed Algahtani (Arabic: نورة القحطاني), is a Saudi Arabian academic and writer, who was Professor of Modern Literature and Criticism at King Saud University (KSU), specialising in modern Saudi literature. She was arrested in 2021 on charges related to alleged social media usage that criticised aspects of Saudi society. Her initial sentence of thirteen years imprisonment was appealed by the prosecution and she was re-sentenced in 2022 to 45 years imprisonment. This change to her sentencing, based on revised charges, resulted in many human rights organisations, such as International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Amnesty International, International Service for Human Rights and CIVICUS requesting her release.