Eleven years from now, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is set to host the 2034 men’s FIFA World Cup. If that sounds like a long way off, just imagine how extensive that time will seem to the innocent Saudi Arabians currently imprisoned for their words, and who will likely remain behind bars well after a winner has been crowned.
Consider the case of Salma al-Shehab, a mother and Leeds University student who was sentenced to over three decades in prison for using social media to “cause public unrest and destabilize civil and national security.” She had retweeted posts calling for the release of political prisoners, including women’s rights activists. Shortly after her sentencing, another Saudi woman, Nourah bint Saeed al-Qahtani, was given 45 years for “using the internet to tear [Saudi Arabia’s] social fabric.”
Even after prison sentences end, the punishment can continue in the form of travel bans meant to trap dissidents inside the country and separate them from their loved ones. Activist and blogger Raif Badawi, for example, suffered a ten-year prison term and a public flogging in Saudi Arabia for “insulting Islam” in his advocacy for secularism and free expression. Now out of prison, he faces an equally lengthy travel ban that puts thousands of miles between him and his wife and three children, who fled to Canada years ago.
There is also the matter of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who isn’t languishing in prison because Saudi government agents instead chose to assassinate him in cold blood in 2018.
But if Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Saudi Arabia’s leadership succeed in their endeavors, public discussion will focus not on imprisoned or murdered dissidents, but on a successful FIFA World Cup and the country’s expanded role in global sports. We traveled down this path just last year, with Qatar’s World Cup and Beijing’s Olympic Games serving as a golden opportunity for both countries to silence dissent on the ground and shift the global conversation away from their appalling human rights records.
That’s a terrible outcome for free expression and government reform, but we don’t need to wait until 2034 to watch it unfold. It’s already underway in Saudi Arabia, with willing participation from industries far outside the country.
Only months ago, the PGA Tour announced a shocking reversal in its public, and rancorous, dispute with LIV Golf, a competing professional golf league bankrolled by Saudi Arabia. No longer would the PGA Tour continue its legal and PR battle against LIV and its backer, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. Instead, PGA announced, a merger would put the tour right into the hands of the country whose human rights record it so vociferously castigated.
There are serious ethical questions about the wisdom of going into business with governments or state-linked bodies when they are responsible for or associated with extensive human rights violations. But this isn’t just about the compromises companies make to pursue opportunities within authoritarian states. It’s also about how those companies may change on a global scale, affecting not just their conduct in countries like Saudi Arabia, but in free countries, too. And maybe what you read, hear, and see.
Consider what speech restrictions PGA golfers will now face due to the merger. It’s not clear exactly what rules they’ll have to follow, but the leaked version of a deal between soccer superstar Lionel Messi and Saudi Arabia’s tourism authority suggests a likely proscription: criticism of the country. Messi’s contract forbade him from expression that might “tarnish” the country.
The outcome of the PGA-LIV merger may very well be that famous athletes around the world who choose to participate on golf’s biggest stage will now be forbidden from speaking about the government funding it. That’s a loss for them, their fans around the world, and free expression—and it’s likely exactly the outcome intended by Saudi officials.
Though sports remain a major target for the kingdom, its range of influence extends to other industries. Media company Vice has been accused of blocking and taking down stories that could upset the government after penning a deal to establish a joint venture with the Saudi government-controlled MBC Group. Far outside Saudi Arabia, the news you read and the media you consume may be repackaged and revised to protect the Saudi government’s reputation.
Even more worryingly, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Education hopes to entice foreign universities to open branch campuses within its borders, a lucrative opportunity that may be difficult for universities to ignore. In recent decades, American universities have plunged headfirst into similarly questionable ventures in Qatar, the UAE, and China with the predictable result of alleged academic freedom violations and censorship in countries with few protections against such incursions.
These programs risk censorship not just in operations in those countries, but in university decision making in the United States, too. After all, who wants to upset a business partner?
In the leadup to the 2034 World Cup, free expression and Saudi Arabia’s dissenters will likely once again suffer amidst the country’s global ambitions. But the rest of the world may find its effects creeping across their borders, too.
Saudi Arabia Hosting the 2034 World Cup Is a Disgraceful Injustice
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01.11.2023
Eleven years from now, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is set to host the 2034 men’s FIFA World Cup. If that sounds like a long way off, just imagine how extensive that time will seem to the innocent Saudi Arabians currently imprisoned for their words, and who will likely remain behind bars well after a winner has been crowned.
Consider the case of Salma al-Shehab, a mother and Leeds University student who was sentenced to over three decades in prison for using social media to “cause public unrest and destabilize civil and national security.” She had retweeted posts calling for the release of political prisoners, including women’s rights activists. Shortly after her sentencing, another Saudi woman, Nourah bint Saeed al-Qahtani, was given 45 years for “using the internet to tear [Saudi Arabia’s] social fabric.”
Even after prison sentences end, the punishment can continue in the form of travel bans meant to trap dissidents inside the country and separate them from their loved ones. Activist and blogger Raif Badawi, for example, suffered a ten-year prison term and a public flogging in Saudi Arabia for “insulting Islam” in his advocacy for secularism and free expression. Now out of prison, he faces an equally lengthy travel ban that puts thousands of miles between him and his........
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