In an alarming precedent set by Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s paramount enforcers of capital punishment, a resident of Mecca and retired educator, Mohammed bin Nasser al-Ghamdi, has been condemned to death. His crime? Expressing dissenting opinions on social media platforms.
(Article cross-posted from Reclaim The Net)
This distressing development underlines the kingdom’s complete intolerance of free speech and underscores escalating attempts to suppress dissent, gaining international criticism.
Predominantly employed for prosecuting terrorism-related cases, the Saudi Specialized Criminal Court indicted al-Ghamdi with a slew of profound charges, among which were “betraying his religion,” “impugning the kingdom and the crown prince,” “conspiring against the government,” and “disturbing the society’s security.” These grave offenses all trace back to his online activity, which entailed sharing opinions critical of the government.
What makes this case convoluted is that al-Ghamdi’s brother, Saeed bin Nasser al-Ghamdi, who resides in the UK, is renowned for his critical stance towards the Saudi regime. The latter believes this sentence against his brother is a mere ploy to get to him.
This tactic of targeting family members as a means to exert pressure on critics abroad is not uncommon, according to activists and those who have faced similar persecutions in the past.
Not surprisingly, this verdict has resonated internationally, inducing reproach from global human rights groups.
As the death penalty handed to al-Ghamdi underlines, the right to express dissent is notably endangered in the kingdom. The message being transmitted is ominous and unequivocal: any voice, however quiet or loud, daring to dissent, is at risk. Even a mere tweet could warrant a fatal outcome, heralding a profoundly disquieting future for free speech in Saudi Arabia.
Independent Journalism Is Dying
Ever since President Trump’s miraculous victory, we’ve heard an incessant drumbeat about how legacy media is dying. This is true. The people have awakened to the reality that they’re being lied to by the self-proclaimed “Arbiters of Truth” for the sake of political expediency, corporate self-protection, and globalist ambitions.
But even as independent journalism rises to fill the void left by legacy media, there is still a huge challenge. Those at the top of independent media like Joe Rogan, Dan Bongino, and Tucker Carlson are thriving and rightly so. They have earned their audience and the financial rewards that come from it. They’ve taken risks and worked hard to get to where they are.
For “the rest of us,” legacy media and their proxies are making it exceptionally difficult to survive, let alone thrive. They still have a stranglehold over the “fact checkers” who have a dramatic impact on readership and viewership. YouTube, Facebook, and Google still stifle us. The freer speech platforms like Rumble and 𝕏 can only reward so many of their popular content creators. For independent journalists on the outside looking in, our only recourse is to rely on affiliates and sponsors.
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Independent media is the future. In many ways, that future is already here. While the phrase, “the more the merrier,” does not apply to this business because there are still some bad actors in the independent media field, there are many great ones that do not get nearly enough attention. We hope to change that one content creator at a time.
Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker
