A prominent Saudi scholar and Snapchat influencer has been arrested by Saudi authorities in what experts said was evidence of the kingdom’s extreme crackdown on social media users.
The arrest of Mohammed Alhajji, a public health expert who completed his dissertation in the US, follows the disappearance and recent arrests of other prominent influencers for “crimes” that include the perceived criticism of the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and support for women’s rights.
Alhajji’s arrest was confirmed by two sources with close knowledge of the matter.
There was no indication or additional information about why the influencer – who was seen as apolitical and supportive of the Saudi government – was detained.
Alhajji had been scheduled to speak at an event in Riyadh on Sunday but observers noted that a tweet describing the event had been deleted in recent days.
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It followed recent news of the arrest of Manahel al-Otaibi, a 29-year-old certified fitness instructor and artist who frequently promoted female empowerment on her social media accounts. Among other charges, Otaibi was accused by Saudi authorities of using a hashtag – translated to #societyisready – to call for an end to male guardianship rules. Another Snapchat influencer, Mansour Al-Raqiba, who had more than 2 million followers, was sentenced to 27 years in jail for allegedly privately criticising the crown prince.
In one of his last Washington Post columns before his brutal murder in 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist, criticised waves of arrest by the crown prince’s government and the “public shaming of intellectuals and religious leaders who dare to express opinions contrary to those of my country’s leadership”.
Yahya Ibrahim Assiri, a UK-based Saudi dissident and founder of human rights group ALQST, said Saudi Arabia is no longer seeing “mass arrests” as described by Khashoggi five years ago.
“The prisons are full and the society is completely threatened. No one criticises the violations or the corruption,” Assiri said. “However, the authorities are still looking for more victims and still targeting anyone they feel could express their opinion at any time. Alhajji is not criticising the authorities – he is trying to be on the safe side – but he has been arrested unfairly like a lot of people.”
Alhajji has a verified Snapchat account and 385,000 followers on Twitter. In interviews highlighting his academic success in the US, where he attended graduate and undergraduate university, Alhajji was described as a social media personality who wanted to use his platform to explain public health issues to a Saudi audience.
“It’s like a reality TV show, a lens for people 7,000 miles away to observe my PhD life in the US, my life in Philly,” he was quoted telling a Temple University news outlet.
Describing his then-recent move back home to Saudi Arabia, he noted…
2023-08-13 11:25:14
Article from www.theguardian.com
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