The international organisation Reporters Without Borders has ranked the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the top of its list of the most repressive countries for journalists around the world.
The 2022 international classification ranked Saudi Arabia 166 out of 180 in a list of grave violators against journalists and freedom of expression.
Reporters Without Borders described Saudi Arabia as “among the worst prisons for journalists in the world”, on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day.
The world celebrated Press Freedom Day at a time when Saudi Arabia is still competing to occupy the first positions in the list of countries that suppress freedoms, especially the freedom of the press.
The Saudi authorities practice various methods of repression against the press and journalists, by suppressing freedom of expression and arresting journalists, bloggers and writers.
The Kingdom is among the first five countries with the highest number of detained journalists until December 1, 2021, as it has arrested 31 journalists since the start of the arbitrary arrest campaigns in the country.
The violations of the authority did not stop at the arrest of journalists, but also to the physical liquidation of reporters.
The most prominent of them was the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was brutally murdered in his country’s consulate in Istanbul for his articles criticising the situation in Saudi Arabia.
In addition, there was the case of writer Saleh al-Shehhi, who was released a few days before his untimely death, after his health condition had dramatically deteriorated in prison. Al-Shehi was arrested after criticising corruption within the royal court during the era of Mohammed bin Salman.
The long list of detainees in Saudi prisons includes a number of journalists such as Zuhair Kutbi, Zana al-Shehri and Khaled al-Alami.
The Saudi regime resorts to using many repressive tools, including restricting the freedom of the press and the media, to cover up the failures and crimes that are taking place against the people of the country, in light of media misinformation and the suppression of freedoms.
