Saudi Arabia punishes critics of government reforms

Saudi Arabia has been promoting a wave of arrests and fines targeting critics of the rising cost of living and recent changes to the country’s social protection network. According to the General Authority for Media Regulation, in December alone nine people were fined and ordered to close their social media accounts for publishing “violative content”. The report states that six others had already been arrested in November for “systematically publishing information to provoke public opinion.”

According to the regulator, these citizens will be prosecuted based on Saudi Arabia’s anti-cybercrime law, which provides for punishments of up to five years in prison and fines that can reach $800,000.

Sanad, a Saudi human rights organization based in the United Kingdom, says the government’s interventions are an “escalation of digital repression” arising from growing online criticism of recent reforms to social security benefits. The fines and arrests are “part of a growing pattern of repressive practices that target critical voices, using regulatory agencies as tools to impose censorship and punish individuals for expressing their views,” the organization told the British newspaper Financial Times.

Recently, the country’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development tightened eligibility criteria for benefits, which resulted in people losing access to social assistance.

Although the government authority did not name the detainees, the London-based Saudi human rights group Alqst identified some of them, including conservative singer Falah al-Masrede. In a video posted on social media in October, he said his sister, who is an amputee, had been denied social security payments. “Many things are happening here in the country and we have the right, as citizens, to complain about what bothers us,” he said.

In October, when Saudi tycoon Yazeed al-Rajhi, cousin of human resources minister Ahmed al-Rajhi and heir to the family that founded the kingdom’s largest bank, posted a video from a private jet attacking criticism of the government.

“We must not accept any negative speech about our governments, even in private settings. We must accept that they are doing the best they can and that mistakes can happen,” he said, attracting a wave of reactions in the country.