The latest on threats to freedom of expression around the world
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Friday, 25 November 2022
** The silence is deafening
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Photo: April Brady/Project on Middle East Democracy
Today we want to talk about Saudi Arabia. We were stunned when US President Joe Biden's administration told a court last week that as a “sitting head of government” Saudi leader Mohammed bin Salman should be immune from civil court proceedings over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
Khashoggi was a well-known Saudi journalist and intellectual who, due to safety concerns, decided to live in self-imposed exile in the United States. He was a firm promoter of freedom of speech and press freedom in the Arab world. On 2 October 2018 he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain official documents in order to get married. There he was brutally killed in what the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard, called a “premeditated extrajudicial killing” for which the state of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is responsible. Full transparency and justice have yet to be granted. Index has continuously called ([link removed]) for it.
We know many of our readers are familiar with these facts but we think it's necessary to repeat them here to reiterate the extreme barbarity of the case. Our heart breaks for his family. “Jamal died again today,” tweeted ([link removed]) Khashoggi’s fiance Hatice Cengiz when she heard news of MBS's immunity. The Biden administration has, meanwhile, said it was strictly a legal determination ([link removed]) that did not reflect its views on the “heinous” killing (a statement that has been contested). Either way by shielding MBS from prosecution, justice for Khashoggi looks once again far off.
Biden's troubling move came just days after UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak sat down with MBS at the G20. We don't know exactly what was discussed, but the little we do know does not sound hard-hitting. If we had sat down with him, on the other hand, our first question would be to request the release of Leeds student Salma al-Shehab ([link removed]) , who was in the UK when she posted comments on Twitter that proved to be the basis of her arrest and imprisonment when she returned to Saudi Arabia. Read more ([link removed]) of the other questions we think Sunak should have asked MBS.
Speaking of Twitter and Saudi, we also wrote for the Byline Times ([link removed]) this week about Twitter’s second biggest investor, the Saudi billionaire and member of the country’s royal family Prince Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud. Millions of people in Saudi use Twitter, just in a way that is carefully curated in order to avoid falling foul of the authorities. As Mark Frary and Nik Williams put it: "The dichotomy between Musk’s view of Twitter as a platform for free speech – including potentially allowing back banned users such as former US President Donald Trump – and the company’s second-largest investor needs careful scrutiny."
To end on a slightly more positive note, we were in awe of the Iranian football team's silent protest ahead of their World Cup game with England on Monday (and also disappointed by England and others who quickly abandoned the OneLove armband upon threat of yellow card). Francis Clarke wrote about it here ([link removed]) and as he highlighted the stakes for the Iranian team are immensely high, making their action (or inaction) all the more formidable. Indeed, yesterday news broke of Voria Ghafouri, a former member of Iran's national football team, being arrested and accused of spreading propaganda (aka speaking in defence of the nation's Kurds). His arrest comes a day before Iran is set to play Wales and is a clear warning to the team to not protest further.
** Save the date: Banned By Beijing launch
Thursday 1 December
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Like his predecessor Mao Zedong, Xi Jinping is a big believer in art serving the people (and by people they both mean party). But unlike Mao, who presided over an isolated China, Xi has taken this position overseas. In our new Banned by Beijing report, released next Thursday 1 December, we lay bare the extent to which Chinese Communist Party activity is driving a new era of artistic censorship across Europe. It's shocking. We're having an online launch to discuss just how shocking. The panel is superb. Please do join us. Tickets and more info here ([link removed]) .
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** Journalists will struggle to speak truth to power if the power isn't showing up
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[link removed] mainstay of British political engagement is the traditional morning media round – designed to set the news agenda for the day. Every day government ministers speak on the morning TV and radio news programmes – not just to announce new initiatives but to respond to the news of the day.
"I don’t doubt for a second that this is challenging and at times pretty uncomfortable for the politicians – but it is how we daily ensure that our politicians are accountable to their constituents," says our CEO Ruth Smeeth in her weekly blog post ([link removed]) .
However in recent days the British government has changed tack. The new Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP, has decreed that the morning media round will no longer be a daily occurrence. Ministers will not appear on news outlets unless they have something to announce, or if there is something the government wants to discuss.
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** From the archive
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** The big cover-up
Winter 2016
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Laura Silvia Battaglia looks at how women in Saudi Arabia and Yemen personalise their obligatory garments ([link removed]) in an effort to express themselves.
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Index on Censorship defends people's freedom to express themselves without fear of harm or persecution. We publish censored writers and artists, monitor and campaign against censorship, and encourage debate.
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