Saudi Arabia: A Saudi court has sentenced a woman to 34 years in prison for using Twitter, according to court records.

According to the documents, the Saudi appeals court sentenced Salma al-Shahab on August 9 for helping dissidents who wanted to "disrupt public order" in the kingdom.

Al-Shahab, a mother of two and a PhD candidate at the University of Leeds in the UK, received a sentence that included a 34-year travel ban.

Al-Shahab, who had about 2,600 Twitter followers, frequently tweeted about women's rights in the conservative Sunni Muslim nation.

The ruling came amid a campaign against rights activists in the oil-rich Gulf state, many of whom have already received prison sentences and travel bans.

It comes less than a month after US President Joe Biden's visit to Saudi Arabia criticized Biden's choice to visit the country despite his track record on human rights.

While on leave from his studies in the United Kingdom in January 2021, Al-Shahab was detained in Saudi Arabia.

The 34-year-old was initially given a six-year sentence in June, which included a three-year sentence and a travel ban of the same duration, before the appeals court hardened the sentence this month.

Court records said he has 30 days to appeal his most recent sentence in the state's Supreme Court.

The decision was condemned by the London-based rights group ALQST, which called it "the longest prison sentence the Saudi authorities have ever received for a peaceful activist".

The head of communications for ALQST, Lina Al-Hathloul, said the sentence "makes a mockery of the Saudi authorities' claims of reforming women and the legal system."

According to a close friend who spoke on the record, while she was not shocked by his arrest, al-Shahab "did not believe that his activity on Twitter would cause him any problems."

The US has claimed to investigate the situation.

Ned Price, a State Department spokesman, told reporters that exercising the right to freedom of expression in support of women's rights "should never be a crime."

One reform that has been attributed to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country's de facto ruler, is the lifting of headscarves and driving restrictions for women.

However, women's rights activists have been cracked down with such reforms, as part of a larger campaign against dissent.

US court charges, Ex-Twitter employee guilty of spying for Saudi Arabia

India got a big advantage between Russia-Ukraine, know how?

6 Pakistanis jailed for insulting Medina mosque, also fined heavily