Censorship in Saudi Arabia

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Censorship in Saudi Arabia is prevalent in the press and with Internet access.

In 2008 Reporters Without Borders ranked Saudi Arabia 161st out of 173 countries for freedom of the press.

Internet

Saudi Arabia directs all international Internet traffic through a proxy farm located in King Abdulaziz City for Science & Technology. Content filter is implemented there, based on software by Secure Computing. Additionally, a number of sites are blocked according to two lists maintained by the Internet Services Unit (ISU): one containing "immoral" (mostly pornographic) sites, the other based on directions from a security committee run by the Ministry of Interior (including sites critical of the Saudi government). An interesting feature of this system is that citizens are encouraged to actively report "immoral" sites for blocking, using a provided web form, available in government's website.

The legal basis for contents filtering is the resolution by Council of Ministers dated 12 February 2001. According to a study carried out in 2004 by the OpenNet Initiative: The most aggressive censorship focused on pornography, drug use, gambling, religious conversion of Muslims, and filtering circumvention tools.

However, Saudi Arabia has been noted to also actively block and filter access to "politically astray" and other websites that the government deems inappropriate, including content that discuss sexual education, family planning, feminism and gay rights.

On 11 July 2006 the Saudi government blocked access to Google and Wikipedia.

In 2011, the Saudi government introduced new Internet rules and regulations that require all online newspapers and bloggers to obtain a special license from the Ministry of Culture and Information [1].

Speech

Individual freedom of speech and peaceful assembly are not respected by the government. Any speech or public demonstration that is deemed to be critical of the government, especially the royal family, or Islam, as defined by government, can lead to imprisonment, corporal punishment even execution [2].

Press

Saudi and foreign newspapers and magazines, including advertising, are strictly controlled by censorship officials, to remove content that is offensive. Newspapers and magazines must not offend or criticize the royal family, respected government officials, Arab culture or Islamic morality.

Censorship of foreign newspapers and magazines tends to focus on content of sexual nature. Nudity and pornography are illegal in the kingdom and this can extend to inking out public displays or affection, the uncovered arms and legs of women or anything deemed to be promoting sexual immorality, such as adultery, fornication or homosexuality.

Films & Television

Public cinemas have been illegal since the 1980s when conservative clerics deemed cinemas to be a waste of time and a corrupt influence. In 2007, permission was granted to two hotels to screen American children's films, to celebrate the end of the Holy Ramadan. That following year the first Saudi film festival took place [3].

Television and radio news, educational and entertainment programming is subjected to government censorship and control. Live television broadcasting has been banned since 2008 and the legal status of satellite receivers is in something of a grey area [4]

In 1994, the government banned ownership of satellite television receivers but throughout the 1990s, an increasingly large percentage of the population bought a satellite receiver and subscribed to various programming packages. Despite the ban, the Saudi government was, generally, willing to tolerate satellite television as long as the programming content was not pornographic, critical of the Saudi government or Islam [5].

In the 2000s the Saudi government launched its own satellite stations and expressed a desire to work with other governments in the region to developing common censorship guidelines and restrictions [6].

In 2005 the two-part episode of American Dad! named "Stan of Arabia" was banned by the Saudi government. The English daily ArabNews published an article that accused the series of engaging in Arab-bashing; although some of what was being showed, such as homosexuality intolerance as well as the ban of alcohol, was true. As a result, the two-part episode was banned in Saudi Arabia, although the rest of TV series itself can still be seen

See also

• Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice
• Cinema of Saudi Arabia
• LGBT rights in Saudi Arabia

External links

• Technical Details of the Saudi Arabia Firewall by NeoSmart Technologies
• Internet Enemies: Saudi Arabia, Reporters Without Borders
• Report by Harvard University's Law School on Documentation of Internet Filtering in Saudi Arabia