A plea for Newcastle fans to help give Saudi women a voice from Elise Evans

Ms Leah Remini Calls Out Saudi Arabian Regime in Wake of Riyadh Comedy Festival Backlash www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDBq...

Critics call Riyadh Comedy Fest “comedy-washing.” Maron: “From the folks that brought you 9/11…” Gillis refused big $$: “You don’t 9/11 your friends.” HRW: diversion from executions, censorship & Khashoggi’s murder. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/28/a...

How MBS curbed Saudi clerics: Weakened religious police Sidelined Grand Mufti & hardliners Reduced clerics’ legal power Cut religious schooling Promoted “moderate” Islam via MWL 🚨Arrested dissenting clerics 🚨Top-down change: liberalization + repression www.ft.com/content/e24f...

“UN Report: Saudi Arabia Targeted Rights Defenders for Cooperating with UN”

Tim Dillon says he was cut from the Riyadh Comedy Festival after joking about Saudi Arabia’s use of forced labor. Critics point to this as proof the event isn’t about comedy; it’s about regime censorship + image control. thehill.com/blogs/in-the...

In September alone, Saudi Arabia executed 12 people. Only 1 case was classified as ‘qisas’ (retribution in Islamic law), while the other 11 were not capital crimes; About 92%

Saudi Arabia wants tourists but jails overstayers & silences critics. You can’t sell openness with fear. www.travelandtourworld.com/news/article...

1/ The Riyadh Comedy Festival (Sept. 26–Oct. 9, 2025) is a star-studded, sold-out event featuring headline names: Dave Chappelle Kevin Hart Bill Burr Louis C.K. Pete Davidson and others; as Saudi Arabia expands entertainment under “Vision 2030.” www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

Saudi Arabia just tightened its reins on social media: luxury = no show Modest dress required And bad behavior = consequences onemileatatime.com/news/saudi-a...

UN Expert Claudia Mahler raises alarm after April 2025 visit to Saudi Arabia: elderly arbitrarily detained, poor prison conditions, no data or programs for older inmates, blocked from visiting al-Huwali & al-Ouda. Govt’s refusal seen as violation of her mandate.

1/The upcoming Riyadh Comedy Festival is getting slammed; not because of the laughs, but because it seems to be being used as a smokescreen. Saudi Arabia is accused of using this high-profile event to whitewash serious human rights abuses. www.hrw.org/news/2025/09...

On #SaudiNationalDay, while the Kingdom celebrates 95 years of unification, let’s not forget the dozens still behind bars simply for expressing their ideas, like Manahel al-Otaibi. #TogetherforManahel

Thousands face deportation. Who counts the human cost; families torn apart, rights ignored, voices silenced. timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle...

Saudi women like Manahel al-Otaibi & Salma al-Shehab face decades in prison for tweets supporting women's rights. Dar al-Reaya "care homes" detain women for defying guardians. Despite reforms, torture & arbitrary arrests persist. www.travelandtourworld.com/news/article...

Over 2,150 days have passed since Saudi authorities arrested #Bandar_AlJahdali in Nov 2019 over tweets on unemployment. Since then, nothing is known about his trial or detention conditions @hrw.org

3,460 days have passed since Saudi authorities arrested Aya Al-Jahni in April 2016. Despite completing her sentence & a release order, her fate has been unknown since a retrial in 2019; a stark reminder of Saudi Arabia’s injustice. @hrw.org

Saudi Arabia’s crackdown on expression, press freedom & migrant rights show a disturbing pattern: harsh sentences for peaceful tweets, exploitative conditions under the corruptive kafala system, death penalties for minors. www.hrw.org/world-report... @hrw.org

Migrant workers in Saudi Arabia have been left unpaid for up to eight months, including on major Aramco sites www.hrw.org/news/2025/09... @hrw.org

Four years after Saudi activist Abdulrahman Al-Sheikhi was jailed over tweets demanding jobs, he remains imprisoned without a fair trial, a blatant violation of human rights. @hrw.org

The execution of Corporal Eid bin Ibrahim bin Mohammed Al-Zu'bi is a grave abuse of state power. No charge of “terrorism” or “treason” can justify the death penalty. This act violates human rights, silences dissent, and erodes justice. #StopExecutionsInKSA @hrw.org

Tom Brady headlining a Saudi-hosted flag-football event on Mar 21, 2026 smells like sportswashing. With influencers reportedly offered $10M and Brady’s fee undisclosed, this is a reminder: big money can buy spectacle; but not public trust. www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootb...

Saudi’s pact with Pakistan underlines a bigger truth: U.S. allies no longer see Washington as a steady shield, and trust in its guarantees is fading fast. This is the cost of relying on PR spin instead of consistent commitments. www.cnn.com/2025/09/18/m...

NEOM’s luxury island Sindalah has been stripped from NEOM after delays and handed to Red Sea Global. Another “bold vision” quietly downsized; Vision 2030 is starting to look less like transformation, more like triage. www.ft.com/content/5b61...

WrestleMania as PR, not progress www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

A new women’s sports network in Saudi Arabia sells empowerment. But Manahel al-Otaibi, a fitness trainer, is serving 5 years in prison for tweets and photos without an abaya. The gap between PR and reality couldn’t be clearer. www.sportspro.com/news/all-wom...

After 20 years, Saudi Arabia’s Human Rights Commission faces criticism for acting as a shield rather than a watchdog; praising government reforms while staying silent on executions, repression, and abuses. menarights.org/en/articles/...

Ronaldo’s Silence Is Saudi Arabia’s Gain @Cristiano move to Saudi Arabia has been hailed as a new chapter; but his silence smothers growing human-rights alarms. While the kingdom courts global stars, freedoms back home remain suppressed. www.prestigeonline.com/sg/lifestyle...

Why Some Stay Silent on Saudi Human Rights Abuses: Leaked files show Boris Johnson wrote to Saudi officials calling himself a “fervent admirer” of MBS, while pitching his private consultancy. Private profit, admiration turns into access. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

While billions go to futuristic cities, ordinary Saudis still face restrictions on free expression, labor rights, and political participation. Growth without freedoms is an unfinished story. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

1/ Saudi Arabia under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is modernizing fast; but the transformation comes with an authoritarian edge. time.com/7315265/how-...

Bruno Fernandes eyeing a £65M/yr move to Saudi Arabia? It's more than a transfer; it's a headline example of #sportswashing. Big money, big optics, but can a football pitch mask systemic human rights abuse? sports.yahoo.com/article/manc...

UN rights commissioner has called on Saudi Arabia to immediately halt executions for crimes committed by minors, after the kingdom executed Jalal al-Labbad. www.jurist.org/news/2025/09...

OPEC+ raising oil output may boost Saudi market power; but at the cost of the climate. More oil = more emissions, cheaper fossil fuels, & slower clean energy transition. A short-term win, long-term climate loss. www.reuters.com/markets/comm...

France sentences Saudi officer Meshari Al Shamrani to 10 yrs for a 2021 rape in Brest. Tried in absentia after fleeing supervision; a European arrest warrant issued www.newarab.com/news/saudi-o...

Mass Saudia cancellations in Saudi & Indian airports left passengers stranded with little info, support, or refunds. Beyond ‘operational issues,’ it’s a rights failure: travelers deserve transparency, fair treatment & remedies. www.travelandtourworld.com/news/article...

For decades Riyadh enjoyed near-impunity: shielded by U.S. gov’t, sovereign immunity laws, and oil leverage. Even after Khashoggi & Yemen, Washington chose arms & alliances over accountability. The 9/11 trial is the first real crack in that shield. consortiumnews.com/2025/09/05/9...

In the Gulf, migrants build the economy yet face hostility, while locals resent being pushed into low-paid jobs. Both groups are trapped in top-down policies that strip dignity, deepen inequality, and ignore rights. www.dw.com/en/migrants-...

Words alone won’t shield Gaza families from erasure www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/li...

Saudi Arabia stages “Art & Ideas” talks in Seoul, Paris, and Riyadh while its own artists and activists like: Manahel al-Otaibi and Nourah al-Qahtani, remain jailed, tortured, or silenced. These dialogues can’t distract from repression. www.al-monitor.com/newsletter/2...

Chinese women perform Carmen on stage in Riyadh, while Saudi women activists remain behind bars. When a regime silences its own voices but imports others for spectacle, it’s not culture; it’s artswashing. en.people.cn/n3/2025/0906...

Boxing’s new ring? Riyadh, where fights sell image, not just sport. Benavidez’s Nov 22 defense is less milestone than sportswashing. Importing athletes to clean up Saudi’s reputation makes boxing a pawn in PR. wbcboxing.com/en/david-ben...

Saudis arrested Yemeni journalist Mujahid Al-Haiqi at Jeddah airport on Aug. 12 after he completed Umrah with his mother. His whereabouts remain unknown. From pilgrimage to prison: Saudi Arabia’s message to journalists is clear: silence or be silenced. cpj.org/2025/09/saud...

Can art remain untarnished when it sways to the tune of a repressive regime? Cultural survival or moral sell-out? www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/a...

Ronaldo may have ‘come for football,’ but what about staying silent while Saudi Arabia sets horrific execution records? 345 people in 2024, 180 more by mid-2025. When fame meets brutality, silence is complicity. campaignme.com/cristiano-ro...

Over 1,900 violations of Saudi Arabia’s summer midday work ban were recorded in just 17,000 inspections; that’s more than 10% non-compliance. Behind the stats are workers exposed to dangerous heat. gulfnews.com/world/gulf/s...

Saudi Arabia and others now share heightened security risks due to escalating violent crime, terrorism, civil unrest, and natural disasters, which have prompted the Australian government to advise citizens to exercise extreme caution www.travelandtourworld.com/news/article...

Ahmed al-Doush, a British father from Manchester, was detained in Riyadh on 31 Aug 2024 while on a family holiday; campaigners call his detention arbitrary and urgently demand UK action. www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releas...

Saudi HRD Abdulrahman Al-Khalidi fled Saudi in 2013, sought asylum in Bulgaria in 2022, but was detained + faces deportation. He worked with Jamal Khashoggi; return risks torture. EU study cites his case as transnational repression. www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etud...

An American citizen Elise Evans was raised by her American mother and Saudi stepfather as a Saudi girl in Saudi Arabia Her upbringing in Saudi culture is a terrifying tale of systemic oppression and a young girl's yearning for freedom against all odds www.amazon.com/Triumph-Amer...