"Arrests of entertainment" .. mm fear Saudi Arabia?

Al Jazeera Net-Doha

Arrests continue in Saudi Arabia on the back of criticism of the activities of the state entertainment authority, which came to restore what is said to be the normal state of Saudi society before the era of the Islamic awakening, but different spectrums of that society are in the prison; a paradox in the Saudi scene during the era of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

If entertainment in its current form is a popular demand, and a return to the normal life of the Saudi society before being awakened by the awakening, as the authorities hesitate and inform them, why are people supposed to represent segments of the people arrested, away from their size in society in the absence of standards of public opinion in the state?

The Saudi authorities wanted to live modernity and deliver what the people had been denied for decades. The Saudi Crown Prince told the Future Initiative conference in October 2017 that “Saudi society was not this way before 1979 (the Iranian revolution and the beginning of the Islamic awakening in Saudi Arabia), We just go back to where we were, to Islam open to all religions, traditions and peoples. "

"We want to live a normal life," he said, threatening to wipe out what he called "remnants of extremism," referring to religious and Sahrawi symbols that could criticize his social orientations, including entertainment.

However, these statements were accompanied by a campaign of mass arrests of influential sheikhs and religious scholars in the community, or academics and social media activists, in anticipation of the emergence of any criticism of entertainment or the policies of Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

While many of these symbols have been arrested, who are not widely known for criticism of power, it is not unusual for authorities to arrest other figures on the back of criticism that has infuriated them not on entertainment as a need for society, but rather on the way they see society moving away from observing its traditions. And their religious habits, according to them.

The Saudi authorities arrested Sheikh Abdul Rahman al-Mahmoud, a former faculty member of the Imam University, on the grounds that a number of his students were republishing part of a program he was presenting in May 2017.

He criticized Sheikh in the rolling section of what he called "fools", in reference to the entertainment authority. He warned of the danger of allowing them to corrupt society, he said, as mentioned the account of the "prisoners of conscience" on the rights of detainees in Saudi Arabia.

Arrest of the sheikh of the tribe
Yesterday, it was revealed that the authorities arrested Faisal bin Sultan bin Jahjah bin Humaid Sheikh Otaiba tribe, on the back of tweets in which he criticized the entertainment authority through its president Turki Al-Sheikh, and called for entertainment in a logical and acceptable manner without prejudice to the essence of religion and constants.

Authorities also summoned popular poet Safar al-Dghailbi for questioning over a poem that included indirect criticism of the al-Sheikh.The authorities also arrested days before the poet Hamoud bin Qasi al-Subaie and video designer Consul bin Subaie, on the back of a video criticizing the president's entertainment practices.

A month ago, the "Detainees of Conscience" account confirmed the arrest of Omar al-Muqbel, a professor at the Faculty of Sharia at Qassim University, who said in a Friday sermon, "We are not against entertainment, but we are against removing the society from its identity in the name of entertainment."

If the authorities want the society to return to its normal state of openness internally and externally, the question that comes to the mind of the observer: Why the state so strongly suppress so many voices and from different spectrums of the people criticize this return to what they are supposed to want and demand? Aren't these figures broad or even spectrums of the people that the authorities are talking about?

Another problematic follower poses this question, and expresses the identification of the society that the authorities want to return or restructure the authorities there. It follows any criticism even if it is from immersed characters.

Given that this category is a broad segment that rejects these recreational trends, this refutes the vision of the existing authorities in their desire to implement what the community wants and return to normal.

Entertainment and its various means seem to be a social need in any country, especially in a country that has been deprived of them for decades. However, it is remarkable in the State of the Two Holy Mosques to insist on moving from the severe province that characterized the Saudi society to uncontrolled openness, importing entertainment outside the context of the Arab and Islamic environment, as well as The Saudi environment, and the attempt to normalize it in society, may explain the campaigns of arrests condemning entertainment.

The Riyadh entertainment season, which began this month and lasts until December, hosted the Korean BTS band at King Fahd International Stadium and performed with some of the most intriguing segments of the neighborhood, critics said.

Critics see another major reason for the arrest of critics of entertainment: the influence of the head of the commission, Turki al-Sheikh, one of Mohammed bin Salman's closest and most loyal figures, known for his rude handling even of unknown journalists and photographers.

The international aspect of the issue of entertainment cannot be overlooked. Saudi Arabia attaches great importance to the emergence of an internationally socially and religiously open country. It has established a government body to broadcast entertainment in the way the West can see an open state that has rid itself of the constraints of conservative religious tendency that has long tainted it. Out.

If so, these critical voices could scratch their image for millions of global promotions and marketing through Western propaganda and public opinion.

Although the state did not force anyone to entertain, it did not leave a window of criticism for being a government body that could be criticized like other government agencies allowed to criticize, leaving many questions about the immunity of this body and the purpose for which it was created.