- Saudi Arabia: Authorities ramp up repression after G20 hiatus (Amnesty International)
Saudi Arabian authorities have brazenly intensified the persecution of human rights defenders and dissidents and stepped up executions over the past six months, following a lull in prosecutions of activists and a sharp decline in use of the death penalty during Saudi Arabia’s G20 presidency last year, said Amnesty International in a new briefing published today.
- Human rights activist and close ally of detained Dubai princess had phone hacked by NSO spyware, forensic test finds (The Washington Post)
A phone belonging to a prominent supporter of two princesses who fled Dubai was infected with Pegasus spyware last year, a new forensic examination shows, offering more evidence that government clients of the Israeli surveillance giant NSO Group have used its phone-hacking tool to target human rights activists.
- Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed seeks to cut influential clerics down to size (The Washington Post)
In May, the Saudi government barred the use of loudspeakers to amplify prayers and sermons at mosques and ordered that the volume of the traditional call to prayer, which has long echoed across the kingdom five times a day, be turned down by two-thirds. When a little-known religious leader penned an online article criticizing the decision by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, he was arrested, according to two Saudi human rights groups, and his once-active Twitter account went silent.
   
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