🧵 This last week, I was part of Amnesty International’s first official mission to #SaudiArabia (perhaps ever), as a group of colleagues and I attended the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Riyadh. This is how it went ⬇️ - ThreadSky

frankctangberg.bsky.social • 79 days ago

🧵 This last week, I was part of Amnesty International’s first official mission to #SaudiArabia (perhaps ever), as a group of colleagues and I attended the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Riyadh.

This is how it went ⬇️

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frankctangberg.bsky.social•79 days ago

First of all, we were not invited by the host nation. We travelled under the auspices of the United Nations’ IGF.

With that in mind, and given the extensive surveillance we assumed to be subject to, we did not go to conduct research or speak to human rights defenders.

frankctangberg.bsky.social•79 days ago

Our aim was to highlight Saudi Arabia’s hypocrisy, as it was hosting the IGF, where one of the themes was “Advancing Human Rights and Inclusion in the Digital Age”, all the while the authorities severely crackdown on peaceful expressions in social media

https://www.digi.no/artikler/anklager-igf-vertsland-for-a-kneble-ytringsfrihet-pa-nett/553882

frankctangberg.bsky.social•79 days ago

However, as the authorities in Saudi Arabia invites the world into its country, we will push for access, transparency and respect for human rights. They will not get away whitewashing its human rights record.

frankctangberg.bsky.social•79 days ago

🚨We had a booth at the IGF, but after just two hours, the IGF confiscated the flyers we had highlighting the cases Manahel al-Otaibi (Saudi Arabia) & Ana da Silva (Angola), both of which were arrested after social media use

Allegedly, we singled out countries for criticism

frankctangberg.bsky.social•79 days ago

At the booth though, we were able to meet with a range of people (our presence surprised a lot of people), including Deputy Minister for Digitization, Torgeir Michaelsen

frankctangberg.bsky.social•79 days ago

We had requested access to prisons and meetings with the Saudi Arabian Human Rights Commission and several ministries. None were granted, and we didn’t manage to engage at all. Thus, we knocked on doors. And we waited… they were really busy 😑

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