Saudi writer and producer Abdul Aziz al-Muzaini was given a 13-year jail sentence. The court also said he couldn’t travel for 13 years. They said he promoted terrorism and homosexuality. His show on Netflix and things he said on the internet caused this trouble.
Saudi writer Al-Muzaini talked about this in a video on YouTube and another place, but he deleted it. He talked to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. A group in Saudi Arabia’s video group charged him. This happened after his popular show Masameer was on Netflix in 2021.
Al-Muzaini talked with Saad al-Suhaimi, who leads a group. Al-Suhaimi asked why he picked Netflix instead of a Saudi TV station called MBC. Al-Muzaini spoke with Israa Osseiri, who runs the Audio-visual Media group. He wanted to make sure his show followed the rules. Then, Al-Suhaimi sent a message to Osseiri, saying to stay out of the problem.
Al-Muzaini mentioned a letter from late Saudi King Abdullah. It showed Al-Suhaimi’s group can work on its own. The questioner hinted there are new fun things in Saudi Arabia. He talked about entertainment, hinting at Riyadh’s season.
The Saudi writer Al-Muzaini said the chairman used him to show his authority. Middle East Eye tried contacting the Saudi government and Netflix for comments.
Saudi Writer Faces Jail Over Words in TV Show
The accusations were about words in his show. Saying things like “may God curse you” and “you donkey” were seen as bad. The worst charge was saying things that supported terrorism and being gay in his show. People who accused him thought the first episode, which made fun of Islamic State, made the group look good.
Al-Suhaimi showed tweets from al-Muzaini from 2010 to 2014. These tweets made the problem worse. At first, the people who decide punishments wanted him in jail for 25 years and said he couldn’t travel. The Terrorism Court made it less: 13 years in jail and no traveling. Now, the highest court in the country has the case.
Before the decision, people told al-Muzaini that the problem wasn’t very serious and needed a lot of paperwork. He also heard that the people who accused him were fired from their jobs. But Al-Suhaimi got moved to another group.
Al-Muzaini took down his video after he put it up. Then he shared a message quoting Bin Salman. The message said he would make sure people who do wrong things are punished. Later, Al-Muzaini said good things about Turki al-Sheikh, who leads Saudi Arabia’s fun group.
Human rights groups say Saudi Arabia gets blamed for how it uses fun things to make people like it, even though it’s strict.
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