SAUDI ARABIA executed a journalist for tweets critical of the royal family on Saturday.

Turki al-Jasser was beheaded after seven years in jail. He was arrested at home in 2018, with police seizing his computer and phones.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Saudi authorities accused Mr Jasser of running a social media account that accused Saudi royals of corruption, and of posting tweets about various rebel organisations. He was convicted of terrorism and treason, though his trial was secret so prosecutors’ case has not been made public.

CPJ programme director Carlos Martinez de la Serna said the failure to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for the murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in its Istanbul consulate in 2018 was linked to Mr Jasser’s execution.

“The international community’s failure to deliver justice for Jamal Khashoggi did not just betray one journalist,” he said, but “emboldened de factor ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to continue his persecution of the press.”