Wikipedia editors serving long sentences in Saudi Arabia since 2020
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Re: Wikipedia editors serving long sentences in Saudi Arabia since 2020
#2Related: "Saudi prosecutors seek death penalty for academic over social media use" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34394354
Re: Wikipedia editors serving long sentences in Saudi Arabia since 2020
#3Related: "Saudi prosecutors seek death penalty for academic over social media use" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34394354
Also, from earlier on:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/14/saudi-ara...
This piece by the Washington Post Editorial Board published in September 2022 actually mentioned one of the two Wikipedians but described him merely as "a writer, translator and computer programmer" – so the Wikipedia connection wasn't clear.
Re: Wikipedia editors serving long sentences in Saudi Arabia since 2020
#4[flagged]
Re: Wikipedia editors serving long sentences in Saudi Arabia since 2020
#5governments burn libraries
Re: Wikipedia editors serving long sentences in Saudi Arabia since 2020
#6[flagged]
I don't really see what this has to do with the submission.
Furthermore, I think it's a bit of a strawman to say that people who think "The West" is evil (usually in reference to the USA's long history of spying on and overthrowing countries) wouldn't also think Saudi Arabia is evil.
Re: Wikipedia editors serving long sentences in Saudi Arabia since 2020
#7Similar to the many Saudis imprisoned for speaking out on Twitter:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/16/saudi-woman-gi...
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/saudi-arabia-american-jailed-t...
To list a few....
And Elon Musk is using Saudi money to fund his Twitter:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattdurot/2022/10/31/saudi-prin...
It is unlikely that Elon will mention anything of this to the Saudi's of course. They are too rich even for him to criticize.
Saudi Arabia even got away with killing Jamal Khashoggi on foreign terrirotiry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Jamal_Khashog...
And then the US government protected Saudi Arabia from any lawsuits in the US:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/7/immunity-cited-as-k...
Re: Wikipedia editors serving long sentences in Saudi Arabia since 2020
#8[flagged]
> The things that keep the west alive are abstract, unfathomable concepts to the Ummah.
As a Muslim, this is so incorrect to the point of almost absurdity. Just because you have encountered one person who appeared to you that he did not understand or comprehend a certain topic you were explaining, does not mean that the rest of the Muslims are the same. I can point you to many many youtube channels (just as an example) on Muslim scholars, sociologists, and more living both in the Middle East and in the West who have been discussing very nuanced sociopolitical topics and how they relate to our religion.
Re: Wikipedia editors serving long sentences in Saudi Arabia since 2020
#9[flagged]
> His English is very good, but the concept of inalienable rights, freedom of speech, and freedom to yell at our politicians .. he was intellectually incapable of understanding this, his society had brainwashed him so thoroughly.
I don’t think that’s a charitable or logical framing of his point of view. Unless you’re religious—which the American framers were—“inalienable rights” are an illogical concept. In the state of nature, you are free to say whatever you want, and the people around you are free to beat you to death for it. It’s only when you have a civilized society that the concept of rights makes sense. Roughly speaking “rights” are simply rules society agrees upon for how individuals relate to each other (e.g. private property) or how society as a whole relates to the individual (e.g. free speech). There’s nothing inherent about any arbitrarily selected set of “rights.”
Re: Wikipedia editors serving long sentences in Saudi Arabia since 2020
#10[flagged]
> The things that keep the west alive are abstract, unfathomable concepts to the Ummah. As a Muslim, this is so incorrect to the point of almost absurdity. Just because you have encountered one person who appeared to you that he did not understand or comprehend a certain topic you were explaining, does not mean that the rest of the Muslims are the same. I can point you to many many youtube channels (just as an exampl…
"One person"
Like I said I've been in the islamic world for a decade. I've studied Arabic/Turkish music in Iran, Egypt, Turkiye, Azerbaijan, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel. It's not like "I met one muslim". I have spent about 20 hours per week for the past decade teaching Syrian and Yemeni refugees in Istanbul and Ankara.
Please point me to a democratic, secular islamic nation. Just one? As far as I can tell this only existed for the brief period from when the Turkish Cumhuriyet was established until Ataturk drank himself to death. Most are kingdoms run by rich tribal warlords.