Saudi journalist Abdulhameed Al-Ghobain says he
received a lengthy prison sentence for publicly voicing support for Israel
without government approval.
By Yakir Benzion, United With Israel
A Saudi Arabian journalist known for his open support of
Israel and criticism of the Palestinians was arrested and jailed by Saudi
authorities and faces a 10-year jail term, the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic
Studies (BESA) at Bar Ilan University reported Sunday.
Saudi journalist Abdulhameed Al-Ghobain has been interviewed
numerous times by both the international media and Israeli television, and he
now faces trumped-up charges of committing espionage on behalf of a foreign
country and falsifying documents to obtain Saudi citizenship, said Dr. Edy
Cohen, an expert on inter-Arab relations and the Arab-Israeli conflict at BESA.
That “foreign country” is almost certainly Israel, Cohen
said.
Last year Al-Ghobain was the first Saudi national to have
an op-ed printed in an Israeli newspaper, winning him a huge
fan base in the Jewish state.
“Saudi Arabia seeks good relations with Israel and the
Jewish people and a fair, just, lasting, and prosperous peace for the region.
Some call it ‘normalization’; I call it common sense,” Al-Ghobain wrote
in Israel Hayom.
Interviewed from Riyadh, Al-Ghobain “has criticized
both the Palestinians and Iran and has spoken openly about his support
for Israel’s proposed sovereignty plan for parts of the West Bank. He now
languishes in prison on false allegations and faces a possible sentence of at
least 10 years,” Cohen said.
“No Saudi can express himself or herself freely. ‘Big
Brother’ is watching and listening to every word. The murder of Jamal
Khashoggi, who ran afoul of the Saudi leadership, is still a recent memory.
There is no such thing as a Saudi opposition party,” Cohen said, noting that
Al-Ghobain did not oppose the Saudi regime, but embarrassed the Saudi
leadership by voicing contrary opinions.
On June 17, 2020, just days before his arrest, Al-Ghobain
feared for his safety and posted “I’m being kidnapped.” That was his last post.
It was deleted a few days ago, though his account still exists he has not been
heard from since.
Cohen said Al-Ghobain’s abduction “illustrates the lack of
freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia… Perhaps he was ahead of his time, and
will yet be seen as a positive example.”
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