Saudi government targets writers and scholars

10 March 2014
Source: Middle East Monitor

Islamic Saudi writer Mhanna Al-Hbail said he will comply with a ban stopping him from writing articles.
In a tweet published on Saturday, Al-Hbail said: "I received a phone call from his excellency the Minister of Information, Dr Abdullah Al-Jasir, informing me, in a dignified manner, that a top level decision has been issued banning me from writing in Qatar."

Al-Hbail writes for the Qatari Al-Arab newspaper as well as for Aljazeera.net. He also publishes in Saudi newspapers such as Al-Hayat.

In a subsequent tweet he said: "I hereby comply with the regrettable decision, which is a repercussion of the disputes tearing the Arabian Gulf region apart. I do wish that this dispute is resolved and the Gulf is united for its own sake."

He also thanked the Qataris for their stance saying: "Thank you in Qatar for having shown me respect, appreciation and hospitality for me and for my pen. This is what I consider to be a profound fraternal Gulf relationship resting on sound foundations and pillars."

It appears that the Saudi decision has been extended to other writers including Salih Al-Shihi who writes for Al-Arab newspaper and Samar Al-Miqrin who said she had decided to stop writing after having a dispute with the newspaper about the content of her articles. She admitted, however, as quoted by the Saudi Al-Hayat newspaper, that she too received instructions from the Saudi Ministry of Information.

Academic and columnist Ahmad bin Rashid bin Said has not said, at least until this report was written, whether he received a similar call. It is worth noting that he also writes for the same Qatari newspaper. Bin Said is well known for his persistent criticism of the Saudi Al-Arabiya TV channel, which he recently described as the "Haftar Channel" after it broadcast a statement by Libyan General Haftar in which he announced his coup. He is also famous for his hashtag "Deconstructing the Zionised Discourse" in which he attacks Al-Arabiya.

What came as a surprise was a tweet by Saudi renowned writer and novelist Muhammad Al-Hdaif, nearly 10 hours after Al-Hbail's own tweet. Al-Hdaif said: "My dear followers. I bid farewell to you. The space has shrunk and the son has been seized. This account will stop tweeting. Yet, my heart will not stop praying for a deeply wounded Ummah."

His tweet prompted someone to initiate a hashtag called: "Suppressing freedom in Saudi Arabia. Al-Hdaif's account has been suspended."

Prior to the suspension of his twitter account, Al-Hdaif tweeted several times criticising the designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group. In one of his tweets he said: "The first to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorists sentencing their members, both men and women, to death was Nusairi sectarian Hafiz Al-Asad."

Ridiculing the official Saudi decision he also said: "The funny thing about this latest designation of terrorism is that many Saudis have studied in various levels of education at the hands of terrorists."

Al-Hdaif comes from a family known for its political opposition. His brother was executed in the early nineties for allegedly killing a soldier, though his family denies that he ever did so. He also has another brother who has been in detention of many years. He himself spent four years in detention in the early nineties too. He was then a member of the reform movement some of whose leading figures fled the country and continue to live in exile.

The Saudi authorities have so far taken measures that besiege a number of notable writers and academics, banning them from delivering lectures, according to London-based UAE newspaper Al-Arab.

Included in this group is renown scholar Dr Salman Al-Odah, who has also been denied permission to travel. Some observers believe these measures constitute a prelude to a much more expansive campaign that will target whoever is suspected of affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood as well as all scholars and Islamic personalities that call for political reform in the Kingdom.

In the meantime, Al-Arabiya's website reported that a special criminal court in Riyadh sentenced an unnamed twitter activist to eight-years in prison for inciting people to take part in demonstrations in Saudi Arabia. The court also ordered his twitter account to be cancelled.

Link:  https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/10204-saudi-government-targets-writers-and-scholars.