Secretary-General of the National Assembly Party - NAAS, and founder of ALQST, an independent NGO defending and promoting human rights in Saudi Arabia. TWITTER/X: @abo1fares website: assiiri.uk
Washington is once again preparing to welcome Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) on Nov. 17. While most world leaders have long looked past the global pariah's crimes, including the gruesome murder of journalist and DAWN founder Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, campaigns of brutal torture and sexual harassment targeting human rights activists and the vicious bombing campaign in Yemen, the fact is that the autocratic Saudi king has not changed. Indeed, his return to Washington represents the normalization of repression, a turn to a world increasingly desensitized to violence and impunity, especially after Oct. 7 and the atrocities committed by Israel, and amid the resurgence of Donald Trump and his embrace of authoritarian power.
This visit embodies a deeply cynical alliance: MBS gains political and security protection while Trump profits politically and financially. The Saudi wealth denied to ordinary citizens—many of whom struggle with poverty and unemployment—is instead channelled to serve corrupt leaders abroad.
Yet Trump's interest goes beyond money. He thrives in the company of "strongmen," finding comfort in their brutality. His admiration for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, even amid Moscow's war on Ukraine and documented atrocities, stems from that shared love of domination and disdain for accountability. It has little to do with geopolitics and everything to do with his personal affinity for cruelty and control. By promoting such regimes as models of "strength," Trump signals that democracy and human rights no longer matter—not in Saudi Arabia, and not in America.
We, as activists and human rights organizations with limited resources, are left to confront bin Salman's repression—compounded by Trump's support and by other governments' complicity—while much of the media turns a blind eye.
- Yahya Assiri
The problem is not confined to Trump or his circle. Many political figures from both major U.S. political parties, alongside much of the American media and a significant number of public opinion and policy leaders, have also failed to hold MBS accountable. Too often, they rely on official Saudi narratives or on self-proclaimed "experts" who visit the kingdom briefly, speak Arabic and present themselves as authorities while lacking any real grasp of Saudi Arabia's complex realities.
In doing so, they ignore the regime's capacity to control the narrative, not only through wealth, state-aligned media and powerful allies, but through repression itself: silencing dissent, shutting down independent outlets, jailing those who publish unwanted truths and persecuting critics abroad with threats, blackmail, hacking and fabricated charges. We, as activists and human rights organizations with limited resources, are left to confront bin Salman's repression—compounded by Trump's support and by other governments' complicity—while much of the media turns a blind eye.
Those who casually describe Saudi Arabia as "changing" rarely explain what has actually improved. The right for women to drive, for instance, was not a generous gift from the ruler but the outcome of years of struggle and sacrifice by activists who endured exile, imprisonment, travel bans and torture. After the ban was lifted, many of those same women were detained and abused.
Likewise, the regime's highly publicised "social openness"—concerts, festivals and public events—serve mainly to whitewash repression, not to expand freedoms. If entertainment and cultural expansion were truly the objectives, they would be accompanied by political and civil reforms. Instead, citizens remain unable to question government decisions, criticize spending or discuss the realities of unemployment, inflation and growing poverty among the working class.
Economic "reform" is no more credible. Projects such as The Line have resulted in the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands, with little to show in return. Bulldozing homes and uprooting communities cannot be called development when the promised outcomes never materialize. American media outlets rush to celebrate these mega-projects but rarely return to report their failures or the human cost—including arbitrary detention and execution for resistance to forced displacement amid such construction projects.
This deterioration of rights in Saudi Arabia is not only a Saudi tragedy but a global warning.
- Yahya Assiri
Indeed, the so-called "progressive" leader's reception in Washington has advanced only through such repression. Saudi Arabia is now enduring its harshest era of crackdowns, executions and censorship. Executions have reached record levels, even as state media once celebrated promises to limit the death penalty. Claims that arrests have declined ignore the grim reality that no activists remain free to be detained—nearly all have been silenced or have been forced to flee the country.
The authorities continue to blame Saudi society itself for stagnation, while citizens dream of freedom and democracy. American commentators and the West more broadly echo the regime's excuses and reinforce its narrative of victim-blaming.
Even more disturbing, the regime continues to promote religious extremism under official sanction to legitimize its hold on power. Last month, a royal decree appointed a hardline cleric as the kingdom's Grand Mufti, a man who has openly justified violence against dissenters and described women as "mentally deficient," insisting that men must rule over and control their lives. He represents a state-backed religious establishment that sanctifies obedience, forbids accountability and blesses the ruler's corruption and oppression.
In contrast, moderate and open-minded scholars such as Salman al-Awda, Ali Hamza al-Omari and Hassan Farhan al-Maliki remain imprisoned, facing possible execution. Their only "crime" is calling for reform, dialogue and tolerance—values the regime treats as threats.
This deterioration of rights in Saudi Arabia is not only a Saudi tragedy but a global warning. The normalization of repression and the acceptance of state violence create a world that worships raw power—the kind admired by Trump and enacted by MBS. To remain silent is to endorse a return to darkness. Every person, institution and government that fails to stand with human dignity becomes complicit in this alarming retreat from justice and humanity.
The views and positions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of DAWN.
