Minute’s silence for Saudi dissidents
The terror attack in Magdeburg, Germany, sheds light on situation in Saudi Arabia.
A man from Saudi Arabia carries out a terrorist attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg. I notice a post on his “X” account about human rights violations in Saudi Arabia. In my opinion, this aspect is also part of the reporting on the attack.
Surface
Ever since Taleb Al Abdulmohsen drove a rented BMW into the Christmas market in Magdeburg on Friday evening, killing five people, including a nine-year-old boy, and injuring more than 200, people have been puzzling over his motives. Was he a mentally disturbed critic of Islam or, on the contrary, a fanatical Shia Muslim - or perhaps a Saudi spy? Whatever his motives were: Al Abdulmohsen was 50 years old at the time of the crime. He came to Germany in 2006. So he had lived in Saudi Arabia for at least 32 years. Reason enough for me to shed some light on the situation there.
The most important thing: Sharia law applies. And thus a strict religious dress code, especially for women. According to a draft law, violent criminals who inflict violence on women or murder them in the name of supposed “honor” are to be protected. Marital rape is also still not a criminal offense. Despite this, the Kingdom was elected to chair the UN Commission on Women's Rights in March 2024. Without opposition from the “Western Europe and other states” group, which included Austria, Israel, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey. Saudi Arabia ranks second to last in the Universal Human Rights Index. The case of blogger Raif Badawi became internationally known. He was released in March 2022 after ten years in prison and 1,000 lashes. The ten-year ban on leaving the country still applies.
The Tweet
Back to Germany: Before the “X” account assigned to the Magdeburg attacker was - temporarily - blocked on Saturday night, I browsed through the account, as probably tens of thousands did. The tweet that particularly caught my eye was a repost, i.e. a text that Taleb Al Abdulmohsen had republished on his account. It was about the UN event Internet Governance Forum, which took place in the Saudi capital Riyadh from December 15 to 19, 2024 - and at which the systematic disregard for human rights in Saudi Arabia was discussed. Translated, it means:
On Saturday night, the X account associated with the attacker was - temporarily - closed. Beforehand, like probably thousands of others, I browsed through the account and took some screenshots. The tweet that particularly caught my eye was a repost. It was about the UN conference Internet Governance Forum, which took place in the Saudi capital Riyadh from December 15 to 19, 2024 - and at which the systematic disregard for human rights in Saudi Arabia was also discussed.
It was a historic, unprecedented and courageous moment.
Watching the heroine represent the voice of the people and true justice and speak out about oppression and detainees with courage in the midst of a dictatorial regime that tries to silence every voice defending human rights in all brutal ways.
A moment that gave us back part of our stolen freedom. As if the cries of the oppressed had found someone to carry them with all courage and resound them inside Riyadh.
The tweet comes from Fawzia al-Otaibi, who writes in her “X”-profile: “The Saudi government is persecuting me as a human rights activist because I stand up for women's rights. They sentenced my sister Manahel to 11 years in prison.” According to human rights groups, this was because of her choice of dress and her advocacy of women's rights online. Fawzia al-Otaibi fled abroad and her name is on this year's list of the BBC's “100 Women”. It also mentions that Saudi authorities have banned al-Otaibi's older sister Maryam from traveling.
The World Cup is due to be held in Saudi Arabia in 2034. Fawzia al-Otaibi therefore appealed to all soccer clubs with Saudi investors to campaign for her sister's release.
Background
In her tweet about the UN forum in Riyadh, al-Otaibi praises a woman who was only virtually present there. The event began with a minute's silence for the imprisoned human rights activists in the Middle East. Among them were Assad as well as Mohammed al-Ghamdi and Nora al-Qahtani, who have all been sentenced to decades in Saudi prisons for their posts on social media. An empty chair next to the presenter was only occupied by a name tag. Lina al-Hathloul, who was supposed to be sitting there, was connected via video. The head of the communications department of the London-based Saudi-British human rights organization ALQST had not travelled to Riyadh due to security concerns. “For today, an empty chair must represent my voice - a powerful symbol of the silence that so many of us face,” she said. Her sister Loujain al-Hathloul is campaigning for the abolition of the notorious guardianship system in Saudi Arabia, which requires women to obtain permission from male relatives for many decisions. The authorities arrested the activist in the United Arab Emirates in March 2018 and forced her back to Saudi Arabia, where she spent more than two years behind bars. She was released on parole in February 2021, but is not allowed to leave Saudi Arabia for five years. The fact that Lina al-Halthoul, an outspoken critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, spoke at the UN forum for a meeting on Saudi soil, albeit only via video, was called “historic” by the moderator on site.
The Forum
The panel discussion that followed focused on the UN Cybercrime Treaty, which member states adopted in August - despite opposition from an alliance of human rights groups and major tech companies - who warn that its scope is far too broad and could amount to a global surveillance treaty and be used by governments for repression. Lina al-Hathloul called Saudi Arabia a “chilling example” of how the agreement could promote the suppression of dissent. She referred to a Saudi state security watch list called “Watch Upon Return”, which, according to ALQST research, monitors the accounts of Saudis abroad in order to target them on their return.
According to the Saudi authorities, the prosecutions complained of by human rights groups are crimes related to terrorism and attempting to disrupt public order. According to media reports, Saudi Arabia had also brought charges against the suspected Magdeburg attacker for alleged terrorism and aiding and abetting the smuggling of women from the Gulf States to Europe. However, Germany refused to extradite him, as the death penalty is still carried out in Saudi Arabia. According to the Middle East Eye news agency, more than 300 people were executed in 2024, while Amnesty International reported at least 172 executions in its annual report on the global use of the death penalty, the “highest number in almost ten years”. Citing the official Saudi Press Agency, the Berlin-based European-Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR) reported that more women were also executed in 2024, namely seven women, three of them for drug-related offenses. Compared to one execution in 2022, women had only been executed for murder until 2019. Most of the women executed during the reign of Crown Prince Mohammed were migrant workers from Africa and Asia.
In the run-up to the UN Forum in Riyadh, more than 40 human rights organizations had called on the Saudi government to release all those imprisoned for their online expressions (see also legend under the cover photo). According to the organizers of the UN Forum, the event itself was overshadowed by censorship interference. The video and transcript were deleted online. A new video was later uploaded.
Dana Ahmed, Middle East researcher at Amnesty International, posted on X that flyers on the cases of Manahel al-Otaibi as well as Neth Nahara, an Angolan singer who was also imprisoned for posts on social media, had been confiscated at the organization's stand.
A dissident in Berlin
I myself interviewed a Saudi dissident in Berlin in 2018. Since I don't know whether she still wants to see her name in print, I'll call her Fatima and briefly tell her story:
Her parents are moderate Muslims who belong to the middle class and go on vacation with their daughter to Italy, Spain or Switzerland. Fatima is 20 when she celebrates a party with a few friends - and the religious police arrest her for it. She is sentenced to four years in prison and 2,000 lashes. At first she still believes it is her just punishment from Allah for not praying or fasting during Ramadan. In order to get a shorter sentence, she decided to memorize the Koran. “While I was trying to memorize the Quran, I discovered a lot for myself - about women's rights and scientific theories. I started to see Islam with different eyes,” she reports.
After eleven months, Fatima is able to recite the Koran by heart and is released early as a “bride of the Koran”. But her experiences in prison haunt her: many of her fellow prisoners are not criminals, but women who have fled domestic violence or sexual abuse. Those who are not picked up by a male relative at the end of their sentence have to stay in prison. “I saw a lot of things in prison - and God looked unjust. I asked myself, is what God is doing right? After my release, questions kept popping up in my head - about justice, humanity, equality between women and men.”
Fatima tries to lead a normal life, studies, founds a company. But eventually she can't stand it and comes out as a non-believer on YouTube. An Egyptian newspaper publishes her confession - without her knowledge. She is in Istanbul at the time and stays in Turkey for fear of being arrested again. Fatima comes to Germany via Sweden, where she is granted asylum in 2015. At the time of our interview, she is 32 and has written a book about her imprisonment. “I am ex-Muslim. But I'm not an atheist,” she says. “What I believe today is at the core of all religions and ancient philosophies. I consider myself a Sufi.” Together with other activists, she campaigns for women's rights in Saudi Arabia. She is in close contact with her parents, who visited her in prison almost every week, by phone and chat.
Unfortunately, I don't know how Fatima is doing now. She hasn't replied to my e-mail (yet).
This text was first published in German on my website.