News - Middle East - Saudi Arabia: Reporters Without Borders International ranks Saudi Arabia among 10 worst countries in world in Press Freedom Index. Kingdom ranked 170 out of 180.

The organization stated that "there is no free media in Saudi Arabia, as journalists are subject to strict surveillance even if they are abroad. This was confirmed with the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul (Turkey) in October 2018, according to the organization."

The organization pointed out that although Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman adopted rhetoric of openness upon assuming power, the wave of repression has significantly worsened since that date, number of journalists behind bars has tripled, and the arrest of most of them was arbitrary, while all prisoners of conscience are subjected to torture in manner systematic.

The penal code, as well as the laws against terrorism and cybercrime, stipulate the imprisonment or suspension of journalists whenever they issue criticism or express their opinion in political affairs. Self-censorship is a rule even on social networks, as anyone criticizing Kingdom's role in war on Yemen, calling for rapprochement with Qatar, or opposing the normalization of relations with Israel is now accused of treason.

Journalists who choose to be neutral have become subject to various types of accusations if they do not follow the same line that the official media take in praising bin Salman, as they face various forms of persecution and harassment by the army of "electronic flies", which are brigades that are strongly active on social media platforms, especially Twitter. 

The Kingdom is also resorting to very advanced espionage techniques to track the movements of journalists living in exile or to monitor some influential figures, as was revealed through the cell phone hacking case of the owner of the Washington Post, Jeff Bezos.

The 2021 edition of World Press Freedom Ranking shows that journalism is totally or partially hindered in 73% of countries whose status was assessed in the context of the analytical research carried out by Reporters Without Borders, bearing in mind that journalism is the best vaccine against the disinformation virus. According to the global index, no significant changes were recorded in Middle East and North Africa region, which maintained its position at the bottom of classification.