My BFF
““All those responsible for publication are banned from publishing … anything contradicting Islamic Sharia Law; anything inciting disruption of state security or public order or anything serving foreign interests that contradict national interests,” the state news agency SPA said. Saudi Arabia follows an austere version of Sunni Islam and does not tolerate any form of dissent. It has no elected parliament and no political parties. The tighter media controls were set out in amendments to the media law issued as a royal order late on Friday. They also banned stirring up sectarianism and “anything that causes harm to the general interest of the country.”…… Clerics played a major role in banning protests by issuing a religious edict which said that demonstrations are against Islamic law. In turn, the royal order banned the “infringement of the reputation or dignity, the slander or the personal offence of the Grand Mufti or any of the country’s senior clerics or statesmen.”..……”
Now nobody can criticize the Mufti or the clergy. If the Mufti, Shaikh Abdelaziz Al Al Shaikh refuses to criticize or ban child marriages, then he (Al) is immune from criticism. Actually this is not new: the clergy have always been immune from criticism in Saudi media that are based in the country, and in most media based offshore. The difference is the Internet, where many young Saudis, whether at home or abroad, feel free to express themselves. Those at home run the risk of crossing red lines and getting arrested, those abroad risk arrest upon return home. There will be less tweeting from within the Kingdom without Magic now, less political tweeting. Oh, there will be a lot about Syria and Yemen and Libya, even maybe Iraq (Bahrain? Where is that?), but nothing about domestic politics (the only domestic politics are within the royal family and among their clergy stooges). Last year they started requiring all bloggers to get government permission to start a blog, and to register with the government. Nice reform.
As for banning “stirring up sectarianism”: that is ironic, nay laughable, because the al-Saud and their media are the party most responsible for the poisonous sectarian divisions we see in our Gulf region these days. They would do the same in the wider Arab world if they could, they certainly have tried in Iraq for some years, and in Lebanon through their surrogates in the Hariri camp.
Cheers
mhg