Saudi Arabia reportedly stepping up arrests of citizens over social media posts related to Gaza war

Saudi Arabia has reportedly stepped up arrests of citizens for social media posts related to the Israel-Hamas war, as Riyadh signals readiness to normalize ties with Israel if the latter commits to establishing a pathway to a future Palestinian state.

Restrictions on free speech, including online, have long been common in Saudi Arabia, but the recent spate of arrests is specifically linked to the Gaza war, Riyadh-based diplomats and rights groups tell Bloomberg, which doesn’t offer an exact figure for how many have been arrested.

Recent detentions have included an executive for a company involved in Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 economic plan who expressed views on the war deemed incendiary by local authorities, Bloomberg says.

A media figure who said Israel should never be forgiven and another individual calling for the boycott of American fast-food restaurants in the kingdom, unnamed sources tell Bloomberg.

The arrests are aimed at deterring people from making online statements about the war that might harm national security, a source familiar with the Saudi government’s thinking tells Bloomberg.

Another Saudi source familiar with the matter says there has been a major increase in inmates over the last six months at one of the country’s maximum-security prisons. This was corroborated by several Saudi diplomats and rights groups who say they’ve also noticed a spike in social media-related arrests since October 7. However, many of those detentions could well be for posts unrelated to the Israel-Hamas war, the sources say.