Nine non-governmental organizations condemned the arrest of individuals from the audience of Al-Safa Football Club in Saudi Arabia and their trial under the Cybercrime Law for their chants during a recent match, which the authorities deemed "sectarian."
In a joint statement, the organizations considered this repression, which restricts the right to freedom of expression in football stadiums, at a time when the authorities heavily invest in promoting sports and tourism, sheds light on the appalling contradiction between the actions of the Saudi authorities and their official narrative of progress.
The statement clarified that twelve members of Al-Safa Club's supporters are standing trial before the criminal court in Dammam on charges including "sending materials harmful to public order via the internet and electronic devices"; "damaging public order by fueling sectarianism through disseminating sectarian content in public gatherings"; "disrupting national unity"; and "pre-coordinating this action."
These charges solely relate to chanting Shi'a religious folk songs celebrating the birth of Imam Ali during the match, with no chants containing any hostile or derogatory content towards anyone. According to the statement, the prosecution based its accusations on social media video clips from the match showing the crowd chanting songs and the fact that the detainees belong to a football fan group on WhatsApp.
The public prosecution is demanding penalties of up to five years' imprisonment and fines of up to three million Saudi Riyals (800,000 dollars), along with confiscation of the defendants' phones and closure of their accounts on phones and social media platforms as stipulated in Article 6 of the Cybercrime Law, in addition to further severe penalties at the judge's discretion.
The organizations clarified that in addition to the persecution of individuals, Al-Safa Club, based in the city of Safwa in the Eastern Province with a Shia majority in the Kingdom, was severely punished. On February 4, 2024, the Discipline and Ethics Committee of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation announced disciplinary measures against the club, stating that the fans chanted "phrases and slogans that violate disciplinary and ethical regulations." The measures included dissolving the club's management board and imposing administrative and financial penalties on it. In the following days, many members of the Al-Safa Supporters Association were arrested, and over 150 individuals were summoned for interrogation.
The organizations considered the treatment of Al-Safa Club's management board and its supporters' association a blatant violation of international laws that guarantee the right to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and freedom of religion.
Saudi Arabia invests billions of dollars in both local and international sports industries — signing deals with famous football players, purchasing European clubs, and hosting prestigious sporting events as part of its image laundering campaign before the world. However, behind the prestige and glamour of its image and reputation improvement campaign through sports lies a harsh reality. Freedom of expression, thought, and belief in Saudi Arabia are suppressed to an unprecedented extent.
The organizations emphasized that Saudi Arabia chose to prosecute supporters of a local football club by summoning 150 individuals for interrogation and trying 12 of them for peacefully chanting during a match, which is another evidence that the Saudi authorities are attempting to "improve their reputation through sports" and rehabilitate their image to the world instead of actually using the power of sports to "open up" the country to everyone.
The organizations considered that the repeated use by authorities of the Cybercrime Law to suppress freedom of expression illustrates how they routinely resort to poorly formulated and ambiguous legislation, citing tweets and other forms of expression and association formation as threats to national security to legitimize their human rights violations. Targeting supporters of Al-Safa Club is another step in the unprecedented repression campaign witnessed by the country in recent years under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, constituting a blatant violation of freedom of expression, thought, and belief.
Signing Organizations:
- AlQST for Human Rights
- Amnesty International
- European Saudi Organization for Human Rights
- Fair Square
- International Federation for Human Rights
- MENA Human Rights Group
- Middle East Center for Democracy
- Newcastle United Supporters Against Sports Washing
- Youth Players Protection Association in Africa - Mali