The Saudi fight against freedom of speech

    Freedom of expression is an sensitive issue in this sad year 2020. In addition to the recent events that took place in october in Conflans-Saint-Honorine in which french teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded after showing cartoons of Mahomet, the saudi government is now causing further upset regarding the right that is so dear to the french. 

Saudi Arabia, and more particularly its government, has a very different vision of the issue of freedom of expression from us. There, criticism of the government in power or of a religion is totally banned. As proof, at the beginning of 2015, blogger Raif Badawi, received in public place in Jeddah, the capital, 50 sticks beatings for having created an internet blog used for public debate. This was in addition to a to ten years prison sentence, a thousand lashes and a 235,000 euro of fine. Official reason? « Insulting Islam ». 

The Saudi people are still dealing with this reality in 2020. The government has intensified its fight against his « oppressors ». Explain. Who are they ? 

Freedom of expression has been literally hunted down, especially in social meetings and on the internet. Critics of the government are detained. It doesn’t matter the reason : defending women’s rights, human rights, that they support political opponents, or are members of the outlawed Shia community. Most of the time, these people are sent to a special criminal court, which has been call an « anti-terrorist court » by the saudis to prosecute what they see as crime. Sentences that can go as far as the death penalty.   

There are many other examples: the authorities authorities randomly arrested fourteen men and women who for peacefully supporting the Palestinian cause, the right of women to drive (since obtained) and, more generally, the entire women’s cause. These activists, later released without criminal charges, were journalists, novelists, business leaders, writers… 

Political parties, another great symbol of freedom of expression, are still totally banned in Iraq’s neighbor country. Creating this kind of organization leads to prison sentences, some of them very long. Finally, any kind of demonstration, peaceful or not, is forbidden following a decree from the Ministry of Interior introduce in 2011.