A Saudi journalist who once warned that writers could be killed by their own governments has been executed for treason—raising new questions about the kingdom's crackdown on dissent in the digital age. Turki al-Jasser, believed to be in his 40s, was put to death in Riyadh on Saturday after being convicted of what the interior ministry said included "high treason by communicating with and conspiring against the security of the Kingdom with individuals outside it," per the Guardian and AP. He had spent seven years in detention, with dissidents alleging he was tortured during that time.
Al-Jasser ran a news blog, Al-Mashhad Al-Saudi, but authorities believe he was also behind an anonymous Twitter account that accused the Saudi royal family of corruption and human rights abuses. His arrest in 2018 reportedly followed a broader crackdown on online dissent. Saudi agents had infiltrated Twitter in 2014-2015, gaining access to the identities of thousands of anonymous accounts. US authorities later charged former Twitter employees and a Saudi national in connection with the breach.
Al-Jasser is said to be the first journalist executed in the kingdom under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), and the first high-profile journalist to be killed by the Saudi state since the 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Legal scholars note that every execution must be approved by the king or crown prince, suggesting high-level involvement. International reaction to the case has been muted compared to the outcry over Khashoggi's murder, though activists say the case highlights ongoing risks for Saudi dissidents and a lack of legal protections for critics. The executive director of Dawn, the pro-democracy group founded by Khashoggi, says it shows MBS "remains a vindictive, thin-skinned tyrant who kills people who criticize him." (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)
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