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15 Saudi reporters arrested in past year: press freedom group
PARIS, Oct 10, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – At least 15 Saudi journalists and bloggers
have been arrested over the past year, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said
on Wednesday, following the disappearance of Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
“In most cases, their arrests have never been officially confirmed and no
official has ever said where they are being held or what they are charged
with,” RSF, which defends press freedom around the world, said in a
statement.
Cases included that of Saleh al-Shihi, a journalist whose arrest was only
confirmed in February when his family learned he had been sentenced to five
years in prison, RSF said.
He disappeared in December 2017, but his detention was not revealed until
his conviction and sentence were announced in the kingdom, the organisation
added.
Economist and citizen-journalist Essam al-Zamel was put on trial this
month for criticising the government’s economic strategy in a series of
tweets and reports. It was only then officially confirmed he has been in jail
for the past year.
Another journalist and commentator, Turad al-Amri, has been missing since
November 2016 after protesting in a tweet to a clampdown on Saudi media,
including the blocking of an online newspaper for which he had written.
Fayez bin Damakh, another reporter and poet, has also been reported
missing since September 2017 when he was about to launch a TV news channel in
neighbouring Kuwait.
Local press reports suggested he was abducted and taken to Saudi Arabia,
though this has never been confirmed.
“The traditionally opaque methods used by Saudi Arabia to silence critical
journalists constitute grounds for fearing the worst in the case of
Khashoggi’s disappearance,” said Sophie Anmuth, head of RSF’s Middle East
desk.
Khashoggi, who lived in self-imposed exile in the United States, vanished
on October 2 after entering Riyadh’s consulate in Istanbul to obtain official
documents ahead of his marriage to his Turkish fiancee.
On Wednesday, Turkish television released CCTV footage of him entering the
consulate.
Saudi authorities have said the journalist left the building after his
visit and rejected Turkish police suggestions he might have been killed
there.
RSF is calling for an independent international investigation to determine
his fate.
A total of 25 to 30 professional and non-professional journalists are
currently believed to be detained in Saudi Arabia, which is ranked 169th out
of 180 countries in RSF’s 2018 World Press Freedom Index, the organisation
also said.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1750 hrs