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Artwork: Jack Forbes

CPJ's resource center shares critical resources to help journalists prepare for an assignment or respond to an emergency.

The Pre-assignment Preparations section can help journalists review safety manuals, plan an assignment, select and obtain the necessary training, insurance, and personal protective equipment (PPE). Other resources can assist journalists in being medically prepared for overseas assignments, mentally prepared for trauma or violence, and to maintain their mental health and safety. It also includes details on digital safety best practices.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) glossary
Read CPJ's PPE glossary to find information on the relevant and correct PPE for reporting from a war zone or protest, covering a natural disaster, or working on an undercover investigation

The Post-incident Assistance section direct journalists to information on trusted partners and other organizations and resources that assist in relocation following a serious threat, and/or provide legal, prison, family, medical, trauma, digital, and/or equipment support in an emergency. It also includes information on grants, awards, and fellowships.

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Resource Center - Committee to Protect Journalists

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CPJ's resource center shares critical resources to help journalists prepare for an assignment or respond to an emergency. The Pre-assignment Preparations section can help journalists review safety manuals, plan an assignment, select and obtain the necessary training, insurance, and personal protective equipment (PPE). Other resources can assist journalists in being medically prepared for overseas assignments,...

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The 25 January revolution raised many hopes and the anniversary has been a holiday for most Egyptians ever since, although little remains of the revolution now and the day is now above all used by pro-government TV channels to celebrate President Sisi and the security forces.

Broadcasts praising the restoration of stability and security are now routine in Egypt. By filling the airwaves, they help to conceal criticism of an army general who seized power in a military coup against Egypt's first democratically elected president, a civilian who owed his election to the Muslim Brotherhood's Islamist movement.

The almost complete lack of coverage of Morsi's premature death in detention in June 2019 is typical of the " Sisification" of Egypt's media, in which they have been brought under authoritarian control and completely reconfigured in order to better reflect the official discourse embodied by Sisi.

"Ten years after the Egyptian revolution, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's government has muzzled the country's journalists and media," said Sabrina Bennoui, the head of RSF's Middle East desk. "Journalists can no longer say what they think and have no choice but to repeat the official line or risk being jailed for threatening the state's stability."

A few years sufficed to transform the media landscape. RSF's Media Ownership Monitor project calculated that nearly half of the country's most popular media are now controlled by the state via official agencies or the intelligence services. And those that are not owned by the state are owned by pro-government businessmen.
Turning point
The takeover of the media required a ruthless crackdown. The few surviving independent media are censored online by the authorities. In all, more than 500 websites are blocked, including the site of one of the last major independent media outlets, Mada Masr, whose offices were recently searched and whose editor, Lina Attalah, the winner of the 2020 RSF Press Freedom Prize for Independence, was briefly detained.

Arrests of journalists surged after the coup against Morsi. According to RSF's tally, more than 100 have been subjected to arbitrary arrest or imprisonment since January 2014. Arrests increased in frequency again in 2017, when the government adopted an arsenal of anti-terrorism laws and created a new agency, the Supreme Council for Media Regulation. Since then, journalists have been systematically arrested on suspicion of "membership of a terrorist group" and "spreading fake news."

Following arrest, most journalists are detained provisionally for two years or even more although Egyptian law restricts the duration of provisional detention to two years. To get round this, courts open new investigations against them. This is the method used with Mahmoud Hussein, a journalist who has been held without trial since December 2016 and whose only crime was to work for Al Jazeera, the Qatari broadcaster accused by Egypt of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and of trying to destabilize the country.

In theory, the Egyptian constitution guarantees free speech and press freedom and, on 11 January, foreign minister Sameh Shoukry said, "no journalist in Egypt it subjected to accusations in connection with the freedom of expression." Instead the Egyptian authorities prosecute journalists on trumped-up terrorism charges that have no direct link to their journalistic work.
One of the world's biggest jailers of journalists

With 32 journalists currently detained, Egypt is now one of the world's biggest jailers of media personnel, behind only China and Saudi Arabia. Some, such as Esraa Abdel Fattah, a blogger who was particularly prominent during the revolution, have been tortured. Others, such as Al-Shaab editor Amer Abdel Moneim, who is diabetic, have become dangerously ill as a result of being denied appropriate medical care. Freelancer Mohamed Monir did not survive the Covid-19 infection he caught in prison...

Egypt is ranked 166th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2020 World Press Freedom Index.

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Less press freedom than ever in Egypt, 10 years after revolution | Reporters without borders

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On 25 January, Egypt will mark the 10th anniversary of the revolution that toppled President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and led to Mohamed Morsi's election as president the following year, while Reporters Without Borders (RSF) continues to deplore the crackdown on the media and arrest of more than 100 journalists since Gen.

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Several journalists arrested in crackdown in Saudi Arabia - Committee to Protect Journalists

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New York, November 27, 2019 - The Saudi Arabian government must immediately end its arrest campaigns against journalists and free all those who have been jailed for their writing, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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10 Most Censored Countries - Committee to Protect Journalists

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Repressive governments use sophisticated digital censorship and surveillance alongside more traditional methods to silence independent media. A special report by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Published September 10, 2019 Eritrea is the world's most censored country, according to a list compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

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Want the quick run down? Click here!

In 2014, the free press advocacy group, Reporters Without Borders, described the actions of the government of Saudi Arabia as "relentless in its censorship of the Saudi media and the Internet."
Since that time, the Saudi government has taken major steps towards increasing civil rights within the kingdom, reducing restrictive male guardianship laws, and giving women the right to drive.

However, despite these positive actions, free speech restrictions for internet users still exist. In this article, we will look at why and how the government of Saudi Arabia censors the internet, what content is restricted, and how those restrictions might be bypassed.

Increased Access and Increased Restriction

Part of Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030" plan to improve the Kingdom's international competitiveness, attract foreign investment, and diversify the government's non-oil-based revenue included ambitious connectivity targets.

These plans included increasing fixed-line broadband penetration in urban areas from 44% to 80% and improving wireless broadband penetration in rural areas from 12% to 70%.

Despite committing to massively increasing Saudi Arabia's overall connectivity, the Saudi government has instituted harsh crackdowns on internet-based free speech, blocking tens of thousands of websites and handing down harsh sentences to those who criticize the Kingdom's leadership.

After the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the number of websites being censored in Saudi Arabia almost doubled.

Foreign news services such as Fox News, the Times, the New York Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation were suddenly blocked, as were local English-language news services, such as arabnews.com.

Individuals have been targeted as well. Human rights activists Issa al-Hamid and Abdulaziz al-Shubaily, and liberal blogger Raif Badawi, were handed lengthy prison sentences, and multi-year bans on using social media for their online activism.

Why Does Saudi Arabia Censor the Internet?

Censorship of the internet is part of a more comprehensive program of censorship and free-speech restrictions designed to solidify the hold of the House of Saud, the current Saudi royal family, on social, political, and religious power.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia does not have a constitution and operates as a totalitarian monarchy, with the King combining legislative, executive, and judicial powers. Royal decrees form the basis of the country's legislation.

The House of Saud's vast numbers of male members, estimated to be around 7000, allow it to control most of the Kingdom's critical governmental posts and to have a presence at all levels of government.

Saudi Arabia gives the ulema, a body of Islamic religious leaders and jurists, a direct role in government. The Saudi ulema has historically been led by the country's leading religious family, the Al ash-Sheikh, that cooperates with the House of Saud to rule the country.

Overall, internet censorship is used by the ulema and the Saudi government to suppress civil and gender rights activists, maintain political and religious control and counter outside influences that are considered a threat.

What Content is Restricted in Saudi Arabia?

Criticism of Islam and the reporting and depicting of radical Islam are restricted in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, Saudi Arabia uses censorship to silence political opposition, and they also restrict access to software that can help protestors coordinate, like VoIP calling.

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Calling

Saudi telecommunication companies have traditionally imposed harsh restrictions on free or low-cost VoIP call services. These restrictions are justified by suggesting that VoIP calling threatens standard mobile call operators, circumvents the regulatory environment, and can bypass the state's surveillance systems.

As of 2013, all Saudi internet providers have blocked VoIP over Viber, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger. In order to sell iPhones in the Kingdom, Apple agreed to remove the Facetime app. The VoIP function of the messaging apps Signal and Telegram are still operational, but the apps themselves suffer from severe connection throttling, often making them unusable.

If you want to find out more about how to circumvent similar bans, you can read our article about accessing Skype abroad.

Political Expression

Article 39 of the Saudi Basic Law of Governance states that: "Mass media and all other vehicles of expression shall employ civil and polite language, contribute towards the education of the nation and strengthen unity."

The government of Saudi Arabia uses vaguely worded laws such as this, and more recent anti-terrorism laws to prosecute political activists who post their views online.

The websites and social media pages of both the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) and the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Organization (ACPRA) are also currently blocked.

Criticism of Islam

The influence of the ulema on the Saudi Government has led to the country restricting access to any content that seems to promote atheism or criticize Islam and the Wahhabi form of Sunni Islam that dominates religious life in Saudi Arabia.

The government also takes steps to censor the reporting and depicting of radical Islam, often censoring or blocking both western and local news websites reporting on terrorist attacks or the so-called Islamic State (IS).

Nudity and Pornography

As a conservative Islamic country, Saudi Arabia has strict laws on depictions of nudity or sexuality. Public displays of affection, such as hugging or kissing, are often removed from print and online media.

This can even extend to the showing of uncovered arms and legs of women and men, as the government's version of Islamic morality prohibits the publishing of anything deemed to promote "sexual immorality."

LGBTQ Content

Homosexuality remains illegal in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPVPV) has the power to arrest and detain people who violate the traditional teachings of Islam. This includes any act of homosexuality, cross-dressing, the consumption of alcohol, and the practice of magic.

Gambling and the Consumption of Alcohol

Under the Sharia law that forms the basis of much of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's laws, gambling and the consumption of alcohol are both illegal. This has resulted in the government blocking access to online gambling sites and censoring content that shows the consumption of alcohol, even to the extent of editing scenes of drinking out of films.

How Does Saudi Arabia Censor the Internet?

Saudi Arabia censors the internet by blocking websites, prosecuting persons of interest, and throttling internet connections. Because the government owns most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) operating in Saudi Arabia, it's easy for them to put these restrictions into place.

Blocking and Filtering

The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), a department of the Saudi Ministry of the Interior, filters the internet and blacklists websites that are considered "harmful," "illegal," "anti-Islamic," or "offensive."

ISPs in the Kingdom must block all sites banned by the CITC. Failure to do so can cause a fine of up to $1.33 million, according to Article 38 of the Telecommunications Act.

Social media is also monitored and regulated, with gatekeepers regularly removing posts and content while the government issues takedown requests to Facebook, Twitter, and Google.

In 2017, a message was widely circulated through local Saudi WhatsApp groups, threatening those who criticize the Saudi government on the platform with a one-year prison sentence and a $133,000 fine. The message also appeared in state-owned newspapers alongside citations from lawyers who seemed to confirm its legal basis.

Regulation

In 2007 the Saudi Government introduced the Anti-Cyber Crime Law that criminalized "producing something that harms public order, religious values, public morals, the sanctity of private life, or authoring, sending, or storing it via an information network." Anyone caught in violation of this rather vaguely worded law might face five years in prison and a fine of $800,000.

A more recent anti-terrorism law, passed in 2014, defined terrorist activity in vague terms such as "insulting the reputation of the state," "harming public order," or "shaking the security of the state." Article 1 of the 2014 anti-terrorism law also defines "calling for atheist thought in any form" as terrorism.

By using vaguely worded laws and imposing harsh penalties, the Saudi government is able to effectively criminalize and censor a wide range of political, religious, and social speech and content.

State-controlled ISPs

Saudi Arabia has two government-owned service providers. The mobile and broadband market is dominated by Saudi Telecom Company (STC), owned by Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates, and the Kuwaiti company Zain.

The Saudi Telecom Company is majority state-owned, while both Mobily and Zain are at least partially owned by the government of the UAE and Kuwait, both of whom operate similar censorship programs as the Saudi government.

By entering significant control over the companies that provide internet access, the Saudi government can ensure that it can censor any content that can be accessed from within the Kingdom.

How to Circumvent Saudi Arabia's Censorship

Tourists in Saudi Arabia, and citizens that live there, can circumvent the bans we outlined above by masking their IP and navigating the web under a pseudonym. For the first, you can use a VPN (Virtual Private Network). A VPN will change your IP and make you anonymous. To navigate under a pseudonym safely, we would advise you to use a secure email provider such as ProtonMail.

Is Using a VPN Illegal in Saudi Arabia?

Saudi Arabia does not have a fully established legal code. Their current legal system is based on Sharia law and supplemented by royal decrees.

While the use of a virtual private network (VPN) is not explicitly illegal, some laws used to criminalize online activity are so vaguely worded that they could conceivably be applied to almost anything.

While there has yet to be a publicized case of an individual being prosecuted for the use of a VPN, the websites of many similar tools, such as Tor and the major VPN providers, remain blocked by the government.

The threat of prosecution has not stopped many Saudis from using VPN services, the Tor Project, and other methods of bypassing content restrictions, with many unblocking services continuing to receive high levels of traffic from within the Kingdom.

What is the Best VPN to Use in Saudi Arabia?

Before choosing a VPN, you should first see what you can access. A VPN's site may not be blocked if you try to reach it with a proxy, or using the Tor browser. That being said, it'll all depend on your ISP, so we'll tell you our recommended picks for the best VPNs to use in Saudi Arabia, but do your own research if these tools aren't available.

ExpressVPN

If you are looking for a VPN with a speedy and stable connection, then look no further than ExpressVPN. ExpressVPN offers you a massive selection of thousands of servers worldwide, and their vast network allows you to bypass geo-blocking, and even anonymously download through torrent networks.

You can install ExpressVPN's user-friendly application onto all your devices, as it works on Android, iOS, Windows, and macOS. Even better, you can get an exclusive deal of 3 free months if you sign up for a year's plan with ExpressVPN using our link.

Very easy to use VPN

Perfect for anonymous browsing, downloading, and streaming (i.e. Netflix)

3000+ servers in 94 countries

Visit ExpressVPN
NordVPN

NordVPN is one of the premier VPN service providers, offering advanced encryption, a reliable, speedy service, and a vast range of servers in countries all over the world. NordVPN operates a "no logging" policy and, as they are based in Panama, they are under no obligation to keep records of your online activities, offering you complete anonymity.

If you want to enjoy streaming services around the world, then NordVPN is the service for you, enabling you to bypass restrictions on streaming services like Hulu and Netflix. They also offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try their services for a month without committing.

Excellent protection and a large network of servers

Nice and pleasing application

No logs

Visit NordVPN
CyberGhost

One of the major benefits of picking CyberGhost as your VPN provider is that their easy-to-use software can be installed on up to 7 devices, allowing you to surf anonymously on whichever device you are using.

The CyberGhost software is also compatible with Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Linux, meaning you don't have to choose between your iPad and your Android phone. CyberGhost's 45-day money-back guarantee means that if you aren't entirely happy with their service, you can reclaim your subscription cost with no questions asked. The fact that it has servers close to Saudi Arabia also makes this one a good choice for anyone living or traveling there.

Very user-friendly

High quality for a low price

Torrents and Netflix possible

Visit CyberGhost
Final Thoughts

While the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has taken some recent steps forward in increasing its citizen's civil rights, particularly regarding women's rights issues, censorship and restrictions on free speech are still strongly imposed by the Saudi government.

A combination of vaguely worded laws, state-controlled ISPs, and heavy-handed prosecutions for crimes such as "insulting the reputation of the state," has allowed the Saudi government to criminalize elements of internet-based free speech and actively restrict access to content that the secular and religious authorities do not want their citizens gaining access too.

Despite these restrictions, many Saudis are making use of services, such as VPNs, to bypass content restrictions and access the internet without fear.

FAQ About Saudi Arabia's Censorship

While researching censorship in Saudi Arabia, we came across a few frequently asked questions about the topic. Click on any of these questions for our answer.

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All About Censorship in Saudi Arabia and How to get Around it

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Want the quick run down? Click here! In 2014, the free press advocacy group, Reporters Without Borders, described the actions of the government of Saudi Arabia as "relentless in its censorship of the Saudi media and the Internet."

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Middle East & North Africa Archives - Committee to Protect Journalists

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New York, November 2, 2021 - Authorities with Hamas, the militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, should immediately release Palestinian journalist Alaa al-Mashrawi, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At 4 p.m. on October 31, Hamas' Internal Security Forces arrested al-Mashrawi, director of the local news website Al-Mashreq News and the Al-Mashreq Foundation...

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‘Eternals’ Won’t Be Playing Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain & Oman

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The anticipated robust overseas box office of Disney/Marvel’s Eternals, which posted a first day of $7.6M, will definitely not have Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman in its future…

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Officials in Saudi Arabia privately complained about the kingdom's low ranking on an influential press freedom index, less than one year after the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi by a Saudi murder squad.

Campaigners at Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Saudis aired their dismay at a series of unprecedented meetings with government officials in Riyadh. RSF has revealed to the Guardian that it held the confidential meetings in April to advocate for the release of 30 jailed journalists, an act that the press freedom group said was the "only way" for Saudi Arabia to assume the G20 presidency next year.

The urgent call comes less than a year after Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist, was brutally murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. A recent UN report into the murder found "credible evidence" that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, and other senior officials, were liable for the killing.

The RSF meetings, which included exchanges with Adel al-Jubeir, the minister of state for foreign affairs, and public prosecutor Saud al-Mojeb, were kept secret because RSF said it had hoped that Saudi Arabia might release the journalists during Ramadan, but no such actions were taken.

"By meeting with high-level people, we can create little movements that create bigger movements," said Christophe Deloire, RSF's secretary-general. "We explained how their global image is totally terrible ... and we tried to explain that what they have to do is to take action. They will never convince us or the general public that it is legitimate to have all those journalists in jail."

Two RSF officials - Deloire and RSF's UK bureau director, Rebecca Vincent - said that over the course of meetings over three days, several Saudi officials raised concerns and dismay at Saudi's low ranking on RSF's press freedom index, where it is ranked 172 out of 180. The officials seemed especially vexed at their proximity to North Korea, RSF said.

"They were clearly sensitive of the rating. They consider it purely illegitimate that they are so badly ranked. And we can say, 'it is because of this, and because of that'. It is a way to engage," said Deloire.

Saudi Arabia fell three spots in RSF's most recent ranking, which cited Khashoggi's murder, and the intense repression of free speech by Saudi's crown prince. It also noted that the number of journalists and citizen-journalists who have been held in detention has tripled since 2017, the year Prince Mohammed, who has proclaimed himself to be a reformer, was appointed as the king's heir.

RSF said that when pressed on the imprisonment of more than two dozen journalists, Saudi officials responded with many of the talking points they have already expressed publicly, including the allegation that the journalists were not being held because of their journalism.

New information about the meetings comes at a sensitive time. October will mark the first anniversary of Khashoggi's murder, and prominent voices are calling for a boycott of the planned G20 summit in Riyadh in 2020.

"We consider there is now an international agenda that creates a demand to act," said Deloire.

Agnès Callamard, the UN special rapporteur who investigated the Khashoggi murder, has said that holding the G20 meeting in Saudi Arabia was a "slap in the face" to those who have fought and died for human rights, and that she would urge governments to relocate the 2020 G20 summit or boycott it.

On Tuesday, Callamard singled out the US for its inaction.

"[It] has the jurisdiction or at least the interest to take action," she told a London conference hosted by human rights groups. "Silence is not an option. Speaking up is required but not enough. We have to act."

RSF said it took months, and diplomatic pressure to agree the meetings in Riyadh and that RSF was careful not to appear to offer any legitimacy to the Saudi regime's treatment of journalists.

Vincent said RSF relies on a "naming and shaming" strategy when dealing with poor treatment of journalists by governments, but in the case of Saudi Arabia felt that a new tactic could be useful.

"One measure that we discussed was the possibility of [the Saudis] issuing pardons during Ramadan. There has been minor movement in four cases, but no release of the whole group," she said.

Two female journalists, Eman al-Nafjan and Hatoon al-Fassi, have temporarily been released, and two other journalists, who were missing, briefly contacted their families.

A G20 press statement issued last year, which confirmed that Saudi Arabia would host the summit in 2020, said the kingdom was undergoing "major economic and social transformation", which was "closely aligned with core G20 objectives of achieving macroeconomic stability, sustainable development, women empowerment, enhanced human capital, and increased flow of trade and investment".

The statement was released two months after Khashoggi's murder.

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Saudis vexed at low ranking on press freedom index after Khashoggi murder

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Officials in Saudi Arabia privately complained about the kingdom's low ranking on an influential press freedom index, less than one year after the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi by a Saudi murder squad. Campaigners at Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Saudis aired their dismay at a series of unprecedented meetings with government officials in Riyadh.

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Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on a visit to Moscow in 2017. (Pavel Golovkin/AP)

Saudi Arabia is moving on to the next phase of a massive public relations campaign aimed at re-branding one of the world's most repressive societies as a haven for free expression.

The kingdom is investing enormous amounts of time and money into efforts to whitewash its terrible record on press freedom. Human rights watchdogs aren't convinced. If there were any genuine reforms, that would be a highly welcome development. In reality, the crackdown on civil society, and on independent voices, is fiercer than ever.

That's the backdrop for the Saudi Media Forum in Riyadh this week, an event that makes several promises that the authorities there have no intention of keeping.

"This event gives us an opportunity to create that platform where professionals from all over the world can express their views freely on issues particularly related to the media industry," Mohammed Fahad al-Harthi, president of the Saudi Media Forum, said in a statement before the event.

That's exactly the sort of ornate but empty pledge that has become a hallmark of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's efforts to convince the world that he rules over a normal country rather than the sinister and repressive state most of us know it to be.

What's disconcerting, though, is that representatives of several major Western media outlets agreed to take part in an event that is plainly designed to present Saudi Arabia as an open society. Reporters and editors from the Guardian, Le Figaro and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung were included in the lineup of speakers. The latter's Middle East editor, Rainer Hermann, on Tuesday was part of a panel about the risks posed by fake news. (I sent messages to two of the journalists in question requesting comment; none of them had replied by the time this article was published.)

Christophe Deloire, the executive director of France-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF), visited Saudi Arabia earlier this year and met with the Saudi Journalists Association, the group that organized the Saudi Media Forum.

He said that he had frank discussions with members of the organization as well as high-ranking Saudi officials. They discussed both the killing of Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi and the large number of journalists behind bars in the kingdom. RSF believes there are 32 of them.

During his visit, Deloire says, he saw some signs of an internal Saudi debate about the need for greater latitude for the press. But he has yet to see any positive changes for the better; if anything, he says, matters have gotten worse. That's why he declined an invitation to participate in the forum.

"Of course I can't go to such an event under these circumstances," Deloire told me. Saudi Arabia ranks 172 out of 180 countries in RSF's annual World Press Freedom Index. "That makes it impossible for me to attend."

Deloire said he had hoped that the first anniversary of Khashoggi's murder might signal a change in Saudi behavior. To commemorate that gruesome event, RSF organized protests outside Saudi embassies around the world. But conditions for the media have only deteriorated since then.

"It takes an occasion like the anniversary to start moving forward, but unfortunately we haven't seen signs of progress. In fact, in the past few days there's been a new wave of journalists arrested," Deloire said, referring to reports that at least seven reporters were detained in the kingdom in mid-November.

But it's the diminishing solidarity of the international press that is truly worrisome.

Any Western journalists who took part in the Riyadh event this week had the "duty," Deloire says, "to clearly express their concerns about the situation of journalists in Saudi Arabia, which is one of the worst countries in the world for the press. For that reason, you can't consider this a normal media forum."

Others in the press freedom community take a similar view.

Sherif Mansour, the Middle East and North Africa program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, says that - regardless of the presence of a few representatives of international media brands - it doesn't change the fact that this is essentially a gathering of Saudi-affiliated media companies. The message the Saudi public relations machine is trying to send by holding the forum is clear.

"They are trying to tell the world that it's time to move on from the killing of Khashoggi. But I completely disagree," Mansour told me. "There isn't a venue big enough to contain the enormous elephant in the room."

The Saudis are back. But they never really left.

We were targeted for our journalism. But I haven't lost hope.

Dictators and the Internet: A love story

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Opinion | Saudi Arabia's press freedom masquerade

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Saudi Arabia is moving on to the next phase of a massive public relations campaign aimed at re-branding one of the world's most repressive societies as a haven for free expression. The kingdom is investing enormous amounts of time and money into efforts to whitewash its terrible record on press freedom.

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Independent journalist Zuhair Kutbi was arrested in January 2019. He had previously been imprisoned from 2015 to 2017. CPJ could not determine whether he was active as a journalist since his release from prison in 2017. His most recent arrest came amid a crackdown on journalists in Saudi Arabia, including several who had not been active for some time.

Kutbi was arrested on January 10, 2019, according to Yahya Assiri, founder of the U.K.-based Saudi human rights organization Al-Qst, and Qatari news website , which cited a post from a Twitter account named "prisoners of conscience." It is not clear who is behind the Twitter account, which has been reporting on politically motivated detentions in Saudi Arabia since March 2014. Kutbi's son, who had tweeted about his father's past imprisonment, did not post anything about the arrest in 2019, according to a CPJ review of his account.

The reason for the arrest was unclear. According to Human Rights Watch, authorities banned Kutbi from writing as one of the conditions of his release in 2017 from the earlier imprisonment.

In March 2019, The Guardian reported that Kutbi was one of four journalists being held in solitary confinement and suffering from malnourishment, denial of medical treatment, and alleged torture. The "detainees of conscience" account tweeted on March 7, 2019, that Kutbi was denied treatment for cancer and diabetes.

Kutbi was imprisoned from July 2015 to November 2017, on charges of "inciting against the state" and "insulting state symbols," according to Mohamed Jameel, Kutbi's father who spoke with CPJ in 2015. The journalist previously contributed to the news website Makkah Online and his own website-which has since been taken offline-and often criticized the government. He has published several books on topics encompassing politics, geography, history, and social and philosophical issues, according to CPJ's review of his writing.

On June 22, 2015, he appeared as a guest on a talk show called "Fi Al-Sameem," on a Saudi YouTube channel called "Khalejia," where Kutbi criticized the country's national dialogue as a waste of time and money, and said his remarks had been edited out of the broadcast of the most recent meeting.

As of September 2020, CPJ could not determine whether Kutbi had been charged, convicted, or appeared before a court, nor the status of his health in prison.

In October 2020, CPJ emailed the spokesperson and the media office for the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C. for comment about journalists held in Saudi prisons, including Kutbi, but received automated messages that the emails were not delivered. The same month, CPJ also sent a request for comment to an email listed on the website of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's Royal Court, but received a message saying the address did not exist. CPJ also emailed the Saudi Ministry of Media and sent a message through the website of the Saudi Center for International Communication, but neither request was returned.

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Zuhair Kutbi - Committee to Protect Journalists

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Independent journalist Zuhair Kutbi was arrested in January 2019. He had previously been imprisoned from 2015 to 2017. CPJ could not determine whether he was active as a journalist since his release from prison in 2017. His most recent arrest came amid a crackdown on journalists in Saudi Arabia, including several who had not been...

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There were more than 30 million internet users by the end of 2017 (InternetWorldStats.com). Widespread filtering targets material deemed to be pornographic, and Islam-related, human rights and political content.

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There were more than 30 million internet users by the end of 2017 (InternetWorldStats.com). Widespread filtering targets material deemed to be pornographic, and Islam-related, human rights and political content.

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June 6 marks two years since Nouf Abdulaziz was imprisoned for reporting on women's rights - an arrest that press freedom advocates say is indicative of how the Saudi government treats the press.

Abdulaziz, a blogger and columnist who contributed to newspapers including Al-Sharq, is one of at least four female journalists jailed in 2018 over their reporting and advocating for increased freedoms for women and constitutional reform in Saudi Arabia, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

She is currently on trial for "communicating with foreign entities; recruiting state employees to gather confidential information; providing financial support to hostile entities abroad."

"Why did our homeland become so unwelcoming to us? And why am I considered an enemy and a criminal who threatens its security?" Abdulaziz wrote in a letter that she asked friends to share in the event of her arrest. "I do not know of any crime I committed other than feeling for every wretched and oppressed person in my society."

Press freedom advocates say her continued imprisonment has dangerous implications for press freedom and the rights of women in the Kingdom.

Saudi Arabia has long been viewed as unwelcoming toward independent journalists. In Reporters Without Borders' 2020 Press Freedom Index, the Kingdom ranked 170 out of 180 countries, where No. 1 is the most free.

The media watchdog said the number of journalists detained in the Kingdom has tripled since 2017, the year Mohammed Bin Salman was appointed crown prince. RSF added that the Kingdom keeps a watch on journalists at home and abroad, as the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018 shows.

"Saudi Arabia is closed off like no other country I've seen, and they have restricted the flow of information that's really not comparable to most other countries in the region," Justin Shilad, a Middle East and North Africa researcher for the CPJ, told VOA.

Abdulaziz and the other female journalists were arrested amid the debate over a woman's right to drive. Abdulaziz had written about that and other gender and human rights issues on her blog.

The same month as her arrest, Saudi Arabia lifted the driving ban; but Abdulaziz and at least two other journalists - Nassima al-Sada and Samar Badawi - arrested around the same time remain in prison, according to AlQst, a UK-based independent organization that monitors rights abuses in Saudi Arabia.

Karin Karlekar, director of the PEN America Free Expression at Risk programs, said that Abdulaziz's arrest is indicative of the Crown Prince's preferred form of governance.

"He wants it to be seen as, I think, something that's been granted to women by him rather than something that women are pushing for themselves and advocating for themselves," Karlekar told VOA. "It's quite disturbing and [ironic] that women have been granted the very rights that these women in jail were advocating for."

Hana al-Khamri, a former colleague of Abdulaziz, has published several articles about rights abuses in the Kingdom.

"In the eyes of the current leadership, every single organic, bottom-up rights movement is a threat to the authoritarian system," al-Khamri wrote in an opinion piece for Al Jazeera in Sweden about six months after Abdulaziz's arrest.

The limited amount of government dissent can lead to a lack of understanding for outsiders of life in Saudi Arabia, Shilad said.

"What you lose is a genuine window onto the dynamics of a country that is undergoing profound change, and you also lose the voices of the citizens themselves," he said. "What we see here is a very clear attempt to control the narrative and to control the social dynamics of change."

International rights groups and media have called for Abdulaziz to be released. On June 1, she was listed on the One Free Press Coalition's "10 Most Urgent Press Freedom Cases."

Abdulaziz is currently on trial with the other two journalists, according to AlQst. The group cited unnamed sources last year as saying she had been tortured in detention.

The public prosecutor denied allegations of torture, Reuters reported.

The Saudi embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment submitted via its web portal.

The women were initially tried under the Specialized Criminal Court, which deals with terrorism cases, but were later moved to the Criminal Court following international pressure, according to AlQst.

When Abdulaziz last appeared in court on March 4, the judge agreed to a request from prosecutors that the session be postponed until further notice, AlQst said.

Karlekar of PEN America believes this is related to the coronavirus pandemic, and she said the prolonged imprisonment sends a message to other Saudis.

"Now they're sort of using COVID as an excuse to indefinitely delay any process or pretense of even trying these cases. And meanwhile, the women are remaining behind bars," she said. "By keeping these women in jail, [the Crown Prince is] sort of sending a signal to anyone else who may be thinking along the same lines that they shouldn't do it."

CPJ's Shilad said that more pressure and awareness is important.

"They are aware of the attention. They're aware of the optics of it in this case in particular," Shilad said. "The more consistent scrutiny that they see of this case, the more that that might result in, at the very least, some more transparency on the proceedings and on Nouf's condition. And hopefully we'll see her eventually released from prison."

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Saudi Journalists Still in Jail Over Call for Women's Rights

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June 6 marks two years since Nouf Abdulaziz was imprisoned for reporting on women's rights - an arrest that press freedom advocates say is indicative of how the Saudi government treats the press.

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hajj،عرب نيوز

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Established in 1975, the Saudi-based Arab News is the Middle East's newspaper of record and the biggest English language daily in the Kingdom.

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A year ago Jamal Khashoggi (pictured), a prominent journalist and past newspaper editor, left his home in Saudi Arabia for the last time. He is now in self-exile, living in Washington, DC, fearing that he will be arrested for his political views if he returns to his country.

Unlike other figures the Saudi authorities have targeted, such as the writer Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 1,000 lashes for allegedly "insulting Islam", Mr Khashoggi is hardly a dissident. Before he left, he was generally seen as close with the royal court, and even today describes the idea of regime change as "ridiculous". Mr Khashoggi's troubles began after he gave a speech to an American think-tank shortly after Donald Trump's shocking presidential victory. He argued that Saudi Arabia should be "rightfully nervous about a Trump presidency" at a time when the kingdom was cosying up to the president-elect. Shortly thereafter, he was informed by Saudi officials that he could no longer write or tweet. After hearing stories of friends and colleagues prevented from leaving the country and even imprisoned, he decided to leave.

Muhammad bin Salman, the crown price, has an ambitious agenda to reform his country's oil-dependent economy. He has turned Western heads by loosening his kingdom's stiff social restrictions, most notably by lifting the ban on female driving. At the same time, he has ramped up his suppression of political freedoms and the ability to voice dissent. The kingdom has detained the owners of Saudi media outlets and extracted concessions in exchange for their freedom. Many of the prominent female activists, such as Lujain al-Hathloul, who lobbied for the right to drive, now find themselves in jail. Saudi journalists who have contacts with foreign embassies risk being labelled as treasonous. The country already scores among the worst in the world on its free-press protections. Despite the crown prince's youth and courting of the West, that seems unlikely to change.

Mr Khashoggi sat down with The Economist to give his thoughts on the state of free expression in Saudi Arabia and across the Middle East. Our transcript, presented below, has been lightly edited for clarity.

***
The Economist: Tell me the story of why you left Saudi Arabia
Jamal Khashoggi: It was around this time last year. It was Ramadan, and usually we Saudis-and as someone from Medina-I would have loved to spend this time in Saudi Arabia, in Medina during Ramadan. But I did not feel comfortable. I was nervous.

I was banned from writing. I was banned from tweeting at that time.
The Economist: Why were you banned from writing and tweeting?
Mr Khashoggi: They did not give me a reason when they ordered me to go silent. But it all started after I spoke at the Washington Institute [for Near East Policy], and I said Saudi Arabia should not be comfortable with the election of Donald Trump. If they did not like [Barack] Obama for not supporting the Saudi stance in Syria, they should expect the same from Trump because of Trump's relationship with Russia. The Washington Institute quoted me as saying that. And I learned later from a close acquaintance at the royal court that they were afraid that me speaking might hurt talks then underway with the Trump team. It was really ridiculous because I was just a journalist.

[...] Then the Qatari crisis broke out, and the Saudi media went into a frenzy. The Saudis who were silent were accused of being traitors. That made me feel like I better leave just to be safe. So I packed my stuff and I left for America. When I left, I had no plan to speak out. I just wanted to be safe. I was afraid of getting banned from traveling, because I was hearing of people getting banned. So I thought: "Get out while you can, before it is too late."

After I arrived in Washington, things began to happen in Saudi Arabia. Arrests...
The Economist: These were the big arrests?
Mr Khashoggi: The big arrests [of prominent princes and businessmen like al-Waleed bin Talal who were detained in the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh]. And many of my friends were arrested.
The Economist: Your journalist friends?
Mr Khashoggi: Journalist friends, activists, social-media personalities, ordinary friends who I knew, acquaintances. What is annoying is that there was no reason. And I think when you get arrested for doing nothing, it is more painful that way. Now eight months after the arrests of those guys last September, they haven't been charged with anything! Many of them spent months in solitary confinement.

A brother of one of them called me and said you will not believe what I have been through. This brother visited him and found him so broken. We are talking about economists, intellectuals, writers. We are not talking about criminals who are used to a tough life. People like you and me. If you ended up in jail, it could break you-especially in your own country.
The Economist: So now you're in self-exile?
Mr Khashoggi: I'm in self-exile. I don't see myself as opposition. I just want to be an independent writer, and that is what I'm doing with the Washington Post [where Mr Khashoggi is a contributor]. I'm just writing my views assuming that I am Saudi Arabian.

I am writing a forthcoming piece in which I suggest why Muhammad bin Salman [the crown prince of Saudi Arabia] needs a free press. In it, I propose the Kuwaiti publication law as a model. In Kuwait, even though it is a monarchy, the Kuwaiti media has more room to debate and check and balance the government. But they do not criticize the emir.
The Economist: That you think is a reasonable compromise?
Mr Khashoggi: I think it's reasonable. I'm not an extremist. And I disagree with Saudis who are calling for regime change and stuff like that. It's just ridiculous. We don't need that in Saudi Arabia. I believe in the system-I just want a reformed system. Actually, I want the system to give me a voice to allow me to speak.
The Economist: And so in your view, monarchy can encompass free expression?
Mr Khashoggi: Yes, yes of course. Kuwait has that, why can't we? Jordan has that, why can't we? Morocco has that, why can't we?
The Economist: So what are your plans in terms of returning to Saudi Arabia?
Mr Khashoggi: I will not return because I don't want to risk losing my freedom. I really don't like being in jail. I don't want to struggle and be the shining example. I just want to be a free writer. I think I am serving my country and my people by providing an independent narrative.

I often get attacked in Saudi Arabia, but the critics don't ridicule my ideas. There were about 30 or 40 articles attacking me in the Saudi press. Not a single one debated something I wrote. They just ridiculed me as a person. They see me as a traitor who is writing in the foreign press. But discuss what I am writing? They will not.
The Economist: Looking at the rest of the Arab World in terms of the ability for journalist to write or to express an independent voice, it seems like there has been a backslide there. The country I'm thinking of is Egypt after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi came to power in 2014.
Mr Khashoggi: Egypt is a mess. There is totally no freedom, but they are making a mockery of journalism in Egypt. In Egypt a journalist lies. Or the government tells people to lie and engage in conspiracies. If you were working a news agency, you cannot trust anything you read in Egyptian newspapers, you cannot trust any number.
The Economist: And what it's like in the UAE or other Gulf states?
And this is very sad because Egypt is the mother of Arab journalism. But in the Arab world, the countries where you can find decent journalism is entirely related to the extent of freedom there: Tunisia, Morocco, Kuwait, and Lebanon except for the intimidation of Hizbullah. In Lebanon there is some freedom, but of course Hizbullah is intimidating journalists who dare to go after them.
The Economist: And so you obliquely talk about an issue in your country by mentioning a parallel in another?
Mr Khashoggi: It's very controlled. In Saudi Arabia, in the UAE. Sometimes the government plays a very interesting game, in which you are allowed to criticise or to debate an issue in another country but not your own. Again, this is ridiculous.
The Economist: What are the ultimate consequences of Saudi Arabia not allowing voices that are critical of the country? What does that portend?
Mr Khashoggi: Yes. I can imagine a Qatari newspaper talking about the badly managed economic policy in Egypt. But they will not talk about the wasteful cost of building in Qatar, which I find hypocritical but we do it in the Arab world. I did it, when I was an editor in a newspaper. It is like that old joke about Brezhnev and Eisenhower. Eisenhower tells Brezhnev, "In America, anyone can criticise me openly." And Brezhnev says "Yes, we have the same thing in Russia. Anyone can criticise the American president openly."
The Economist: Who exactly told you to stop tweeting and stop writing?
Mr Khashoggi: Particularly at this time, it is not right. Why? The crown prince is engaging in a major economic transformation. And since there is no one to debate it, to discuss it, he will not see the faults of those transformations. For example, he orchestrated the spending of tens of billions of dollars in building an entertainment city south of Riyadh. There was not a single article debating the feasibility of this project. When you build a metro line in Washington, DC, you debate whether it is a smart decision or not.

Mr Khashoggi: It was an assistant to the crown prince. I got the phone call from the royal court. I couldn't debate it, there was no court order. This is the system.

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How free expression is suppressed in Saudi Arabia

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A year ago Jamal Khashoggi (pictured), a prominent journalist and past newspaper editor, left his home in Saudi Arabia for the last time. He is now in self-exile, living in Washington, DC, fearing that he will be arrested for his political views if he returns to his country.

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10 Most Censored Countries - Committee to Protect Journalists

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Repressive governments use sophisticated digital censorship and surveillance alongside more traditional methods to silence independent media. A special report by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Published September 10, 2019 Eritrea is the world's most censored country, according to a list compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

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Emile Saadi
Background to the new Authority
The first radio broadcast in the Kingdom is reported to have occurred around 1931. In 1955 the first television broadcast
occurred in the Kingdom, when US programs were broadcast for the personnel of the USAF Dhahran Airfield. This was followed in 1965 with the first state approved national television broadcast. The first program broadcast was a recital of the Quran.

Today in the Kingdom the state-run Broadcasting Service of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia operates almost all domestic television broadcasting, namely the four state television channels and the Kingdom's state radio channels.

Historically, however, there were few new licenses issued to broadcast in the Kingdom, which has led to a stagnation of the market and a number of Saudi owned broadcasters operating from outside the Kingdom. The Ministry for Culture and Information, however, hope that the establishment of the new Authority will change this.
The new Authority
The new Authority is an independent legal entity, with independent finance and administration, albeit, however, one that reports to the Minster of Culture and Information. It is charged with the regulation, supervision and development of audio-visual media transmission. As such, it will serve as an authority to regulate and supervise the audio and visual media outlets operating from inside the Kingdom, and issue licenses to radio and television stations to operate from the Kingdom.

It is worth noting that enacting legislation does not specifically refer to the online sector, but seemingly aims at its provisions at the traditional broadcast media. That said; the provisions are drafted with sufficient breadth to permit the remit of the Authority to extend online.

How will the Authority Regulate?

As mentioned above, the Authority's remit is broad; however, the enacting legislation provides a number of rules by which the Authority will perform its obligations.

These rules provide that the Authority will regulate in accordance with the Kingdom's "media policy" and the following rules/mandate:

1. Reinforcing the religious, social and cultural values of the Kingdom;

2. Ensuring that the public are provided with a high quality collection of entertainment;

3. Setting-up flexible and clear mechanisms for licensing the audio-visual media transmission, in a way which keeps abreast with the advanced commercial and technological trends;

4. Ensuring that equal opportunities are provided in the markets and securing fair competition, in the area of the Authority's activity;

5. Supporting the development of audio-visual media transmission and content in the Kingdom;

6. Supporting and implementing the objectives of Kingdom's media policy and national plans through audio-visual media transmission and content.

(together the "Rules")
What will the Authority Regulate?
The enacting legislation provides that the Authority will regulate the following areas, and shall apply the Rules while exercising its authority:

1. Managing the licensing procedures for all activities of audio-visual media transmission and content;

2. Proposing the licensing fees for audio-visual media transmission and content, suggesting the amendment thereof, and submitting the same to the competent authorities for approval.

3. Coordinating with the Communication and Information Technology Commission in respect of the frequency spectrum for audio-visual media transmission, in accordance with the communications law;

4. Coordinating with the Communication and Information Technology Commission on the technical specifications of audio-visual media transmission devices, and issuing the approvals for importing and distributing the same;

5. Monitoring all audio-visual media transmission and content services providers, to ensure that they conform strictly to the laws and implement the conditions of their respective licenses;

6. Receiving and investigating the complaints related to audio-visual media transmission and content;

7. Supporting and conducting research and studies, organizing conferences and meetings associated with audio-visual media transmission and content, whether solely or in cooperation with other similar institutions;

8. Setting-up a mechanism to resolve disputes arising between the Authority and the audio-visual media transmission and content outlets (which we interpret to mean "broadcasters") as prescribed by the law; and

9. Performing further tasks as dictated or required by the nature of its functions or prescribed by the applicable laws.

Things to consider and likely implications

The creation of the Authority is intended to facilitate the establishment of Saudi television and radio stations, and the Authority certainly has the power to do that. While it is clear, that those Saudi television and radio stations will need to conduct business according to certain conditions and rules what those conditions and rules are is unclear. If a business is considering making an application for a license from the Authority, then this ought to be considered from the outset.

While it is likely that the incorporation of the Authority will result in an expansion and development of the broadcast media in the Kingdom, and it is the Authority's responsibility to regulate this expansion, it is not yet clear how this will be managed.

Al Tamimi & Company's Technology, Media & Telecommunications team regularly deals with media regulatory issues in the region. For further information please contact the author of the article.

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New Saudi authority for the regulation of Audio and Visual Media

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The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has restructured its state media, and in doing so has established a new authority to regulate audiovisual broadcasters. The new authority, known as the General Authority for Audio and Visual Media (the "Authority"), is charged with regulating and developing the audio-visual media transmission and content.

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While internet access is widespread and relatively affordable, Saudi Arabia's restrictive absolute monarchy places extensive limits on the range of information and services available online. Authorities operate extensive censorship and surveillance systems, and regime critics, activists, and others perceived as voicing dissent online are subject to severe punishment.

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10 Most Censored Countries - Committee to Protect Journalists

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10 Most Censored Countries 1. Eritrea 2. North Korea 3. Saudi Arabia 4. Ethiopia 5. Azerbaijan 6. Vietnam 7. Iran 8. China 9. Myanmar 10. Cuba Methodology » See updated list of 10 Most Censored Countries at https://cpj.org/reports/2019/09/10-most-censored-eritrea-north-korea-turkmenistan-journalist.…

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Saudi Arabia : Cracking down harder | Reporters without borders

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Saudi Arabia permits no independent media. The authorities keep Saudi journalists under close surveillance, even when they are abroad, as Jamal Khashoggi's murder in Istanbul in October 2018 illustrated. Despite his talk of reform, Mohammad bin Salman (MBS) has intensified the repression since his appointment as crown prince in June 2017.

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Saudi Arabia : Cracking down harder | Reporters without borders

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Saudi Arabia permits no independent media. The authorities keep Saudi journalists under close surveillance, even when they are abroad, as Jamal Khashoggi's murder in Istanbul in October 2018 illustrated. Despite his talk of reform, Mohammad bin Salman (MBS) has intensified the repression since his appointment as crown prince in June 2017.

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Rapper Young Dolph, widely admired in the hip-hop community for his authenticity and fierce independence, was shot and killed Wednesday inside a beloved local cookie shop in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, authorities said.

Police tweeted they had no information to release about a possible suspect in the shooting, which took place at Makeda's Cookies near Memphis International Airport.

"The tragic shooting death of rap artist Young Dolph serves as another reminder of the pain that violent crime brings with it," Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said in a statement.

The Daily Memphian newspaper reported that Young Dolph's cousin, Mareno Myers, said the 36-year-old rapper had been in town since Monday visiting an aunt who has cancer and was also giving out Thanksgiving turkeys.

"He was inside (Makeda's), and somebody just rolled up on him and took his life," Myers said.

Just last week, the cookie shop posted a video on Instagram of the rapper promoting the store's cookies, saying he returns to the store whenever he is in Memphis.

A large crowd gathered near the shop after the shooting. At a news conference Wednesday evening, Memphis Police Director Cerelyn "CJ" Davis asked the public to remain calm and recommended that residents stay home tonight. She did not say if police think other shootings under investigation Wednesday were related to the rapper's killing.

A city council member called for a curfew. Davis did not rule out issuing one at some point.

Like the Los Angeles rapper Nipsey Hussle, who was killed in 2019, Young Dolph pursued an independent approach to the music business. His Paper Route Empire label retained control over his music. "I just got another vision for it - strictly 100 percent ownership," he said in 2018 mini-documentary co-produced by his label, titled "Turned Dirt Into Diamonds." "A lot of people, they can't see what I see."

"God bless Dolph," tweeted Chance the Rapper. "Real independent Memphis rapper born in chicago. loved by millions of ppl."

Born in Chicago as Adolph Thornton Jr., he moved to Memphis when he was 2, according to The Commercial Appeal. He said in the documentary that he'd been raised by his grandmother and tried to help his parents "clean their life up" once he found success.

He released numerous mixtapes, starting with 2008′s "Paper Route Campaign," and multiple studio albums, including his 2016 debut "King of Memphis." He also collaborated on other mixtapes and albums with fellow rappers Key Glock, Megan Thee Stallion, T.I., Gucci Mane, 2 Chainz and others.

Young Dolph had three albums reach the top 10 on the Billboard 200, with 2020′s "Rich Slave" peaking at No. 4.

In his music, Young Dolph rapped about being a drug dealer and life on the streets in Memphis. He recently performed at a concert at the University of Memphis and has performed during the halftime of a Memphis Grizzlies game. He was admired in Memphis as a torchbearer of the city's rap legends, Three 6 Mafia.

Young Dolph considered himself a workaholic and in recent years was focused on growing his business. "I'm a CEO first, then an artist," he told the writer Gary Suarez in a 2020 interview for Forbes, saying he'd strategically held off on signing with a major label. "As long as I keep going up and keep working, my value is going to increase."

"I know what the streets want to hear, I know what the street's going through, the lingo, the fashion, everything. It ain't nothing; it's my real life," he told Suarez.

Young Dolph had survived previous shootings. He was shot multiple times in September 2017 after a fight outside a Los Angeles hotel. In February of that year, his SUV was shot at in Charlotte, North Carolina, more than 100 times. The incident was the inspiration for the song "100 Shots." He said he survived because he had bulletproof panels in his vehicle, The Commercial Appeal reported.

Memphis officials, athletes and numerous members of the music industry posted their condolences on social media.

"R.I.P. to my friend Dolph this broke my heart," Gucci Mane posted on Twitter.

The rapper's talent agency, APA, said it was shocked and saddened by his death.

"The world has lost an icon, a great man and beloved artist who has been taken too soon," the agency said in a statement. "His dedication, drive, hard work and loyalty to all those around him always came first and he will be deeply missed."

In a post on his Twitter account on Oct. 20, Young Dolph said a doctor told him he needed some time to himself.

"I never knew what anxiety meant until My doctor just explained to me that I have it this morning," another tweet posted that day said.

In an August tweet, he said: "Still can't believe i got to where im at in life. still feel unreal."

It is the fourth high-profile shooting in the Memphis area in the past two months. Others include a school shooting in which a 13-year-old student wounded a classmate, the fatal shooting of two postal employees by a third postal worker who then killed himself, and a mass shooting at a Kroger grocery store in the Collierville suburb that left two people dead, including the shooter, and more than a dozen wounded.

___

Pearson reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers Joshua Housing in Munster, Indiana; Kristin M. Hall in Nashville, Tennessee contributed to this report.

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Rapper Young Dolph fatally shot at Tennessee cookie shop

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Rapper Young Dolph, widely admired in the hip-hop community for his authenticity and fierce independence, was shot and killed Wednesday inside a beloved local cookie shop in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, authorities said.

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The student said she is still being threatened by her attackers.

COBB COUNTY, Ga. - A high school student was attacked and beaten between classes and, according to her, the attackers are still in school, at Pebblebrook High.

The student, who is transgender, said she is still being threatened by her attackers.

A video of the attack emerged on social media, and someone who says she is the victim's cousin shared it. A warning--the video may be disturbing to many who see it.

i need y'all to share this widely

my little cousin shantae was Jumped by a group of boys at her school on tuesday and the school has not taken any action to make it safe for her to go back

Pebblebrook High School in Georgia the school's number is 770.819.2521 pic.twitter.com/NTsftmweD8
- anon (they/them) (@likelyprotestng) November 11, 2021

The attack happened on Tuesday afternoon just before the last class of the day.

The 15-year-old student, Shantae Payne, told 11Alive she was "blindsided."

"I didn't know who they were," she said.

Shantae enrolled in the school back in October, transferring to Pebblebrook from a school in Macon. During the attack, she said she lost consciousness, in a daze as someone helped her to the school nurse.

"On Thursday she walks down the hall and one of the boys walks right by her and threatens her," Shantae's guardian, Blanche Payne said. "[They were] telling her that if she comes back to school 'we're going to drag her in the bathroom,' they're going to attack her."

Blanche said the young men should be arrested.

"No one has a right to judge or attack someone because they are different," she said.

Violence against transgender people across the country continues to increase, according to the Human Rights Campaign. There are already more known attacks and deaths of trans people this year than in 2020, itself a record year.

The 2021 list includes Sophie Vasquez, who was killed in Brookhaven back in May, although police said she was not targeted for being trans.

As for Shantae, she has no doubt why she was targeted at school.

"People like me are judged every day, we are targeted every day," she said. "This is a hate crime. This happens all the time and it's swept under the rug. And me being who I am, I'm not going to let it go, I need to be heard because I have a voice just like everybody else, and I'm going to use it."

Shantae said that school administrators told her they are investigating the attack.

On Saturday a spokesperson for the Cobb County School District emailed a response to questions from 11Alive about the incident:
"Administration is aware of the video and is investigating. All involved students will be dealt with according to district policies. We are unable to provide further detail due to privacy laws which protect student criminal and discipline records."
11Alive is also working to confirm whether those involved may also be facing criminal charges.

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Transgender student attacked at Cobb County High School | Exclusive

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The student said she is still being threatened by her attackers. COBB COUNTY, Ga. - A high school student was attacked and beaten between classes and, according to her, the attackers are still in school, at Pebblebrook High. The student, who is transgender, said she is still being threatened by her attackers.

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The first man Kyle Rittenhouse fatally shot on the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, was "irrational and crazy," Rittenhouse's attorney told jurors at his murder trial.

Joseph Rosenbaum had been on medication for bipolar disorder and depression, and he was trying to take Rittenhouse's rifle, attorney Mark Richards said, suggesting there could have been more bloodshed if Rittenhouse hadn't acted.

"I'm glad he shot him because if Joseph Rosenbaum got that gun I don't for a minute believe he wouldn't have used it against somebody else," Richards said during closing arguments in the 18-year-old Illinois man's trial for killing Rosenbaum and another man and wounding a third during a chaotic night of protests in August 2020.

To some legal experts and other observers, Richards' remarks were a smart courtroom strategy and an accurate depiction of the threat faced by Rittenhouse, who says he shot the men in self-defense. But mental health advocates heard something different: a dangerous assumption that people living with mental illness are homicidal and need to be killed, and terminology such as "crazy" that they say is pejorative and adds to the stigma surrounding mental health issues.

Studies have shown that people with bipolar disorder and depression are more likely to hurt themselves than hurt others, said Sue Abderholden, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Minnesota. That's why NAMI's work includes training police officers to use de-escalation strategies when dealing with people who have a mental illness.

"You just don't have someone shot down, particularly someone who is unarmed," she said.

Jason Lackowski, a former Marine who said he went armed to the Kenosha protests to protect property, testified during the trial that Rosenbaum acted "belligerently" that night and seemed to want "to entice someone to do something," but did not appear to pose a serious threat to anyone. Lackowski said he turned his back on Rosenbaum and ignored him.

Rittenhouse didn't know Rosenbaum or his background when they crossed paths at the protest that followed the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white police officer. And the jury wasn't supposed to know much about him either.

During pretrial hearings, defense attorneys said they wanted to present evidence of Rosenbaum's past, including an Arizona conviction for having sex with a minor in 2002. They planned to argue that Rosenbaum, 36, was trying to take the then-17-year-old Rittenhouse's weapon during their encounter because Rosenbaum wasn't legally allowed to have a gun due to his criminal past. Prosecutors argued that the defense was trying to signal to the jury that Rosenbaum was a bad guy who deserved to die.

Judge Bruce Schroeder blocked defense lawyers from revealing the sex crime conviction at the trial. Jurors also were not supposed to hear about Rosenbaum's mental health history, which Schroeder said wasn't relevant because Rittenhouse didn't know it when he shot him.

But the information came out in court after prosecutors asked Rosenbaum's fiancée, Kariann Swart, whether Rosenbaum - whom she said had just been released from a hospital - had taken medication earlier on the day he was shot. Schroeder later ruled that by asking that question, prosecutors opened the door for the defense to ask Swart what the medication was for. Under cross-examination, she told jurors it was for bipolar disorder and depression.

Swart also testified that Rosenbaum had returned from a Milwaukee hospital on the day of the shooting. The jury did not hear that Rosenbaum had been in a mental health ward following a suicide attempt.

Phil Turner, a former federal prosecutor who is now in private practice and who isn't involved in the Rittenhouse case, believes the testimony about Rosenbaum's mental illness was "very important to the self-defense argument" and therefore fair game.

People, including the jury, might agree that mental illness on its own does not cause someone to be violent, Turner said. But that information along with Rosenbaum's actions that night - from getting in the face of men armed with rifles to at one point chasing after Rittenhouse - likely was a "nodding their head kind of moment" for jurors.

"It fortifies the defense argument that this is the truth, this is the reality," Turner said.

Kim Motley, an attorney representing Rosenbaum's estate, said she understands Richards' efforts to "vigorously defend" his client. But she called his comments about being glad Rittenhouse shot Rosenbaum - among the final words jurors heard before they started deliberating Tuesday following a roughly two-week trial - "disgusting" and offensive to people who struggle with mental illness.

"This trial isn't about the type of person Joseph Rosenbaum was," Motley said "This trial is about his client, Kyle Rittenhouse."

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Find the AP's full coverage of the Rittenhouse trial: https://apnews.com/hub/kyle-rittenhouse

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Rittenhouse trial arguments worry mental health advocates

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The first man Kyle Rittenhouse fatally shot on the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, was "irrational and crazy," Rittenhouse's attorney told jurors at his murder trial. Joseph Rosenbaum had been on medication for bipolar disorder and depression, and he was trying to take Rittenhouse's rifle, attorney Mark Richards said, suggesting there could have been more bloodshed if Rittenhouse hadn't acted.

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cheney and kinzinger vote with democrats to censure gop rep. paul gosar - cnnpolitics

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Cheney and Kinzinger vote with Democrats to censure GOP Rep. Paul Gosar

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Republican Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger broke ranks on Wednesday to join all Democrats in voting for a resolution that both censured Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona and stripped him of his two committee assignments.

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Sara Lawrence

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The rapper was visiting a cookie shop in his hometown when the shooting occured.

Rapper Young Dolph, whose given name is Adolph Robert Thornton Jr., was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee, on Wednesday afternoon. He was 36.

"The preliminary information indicates that the victim is Adolph Robert Thornton Jr. However, this information will be confirmed once the identification process has been completed," the Memphis Police Department tweeted Wednesday afternoon.

According to police, officers responded at at 12:24 p.m. local time to the scene of a shooting at 2370 Airways -- the address of Makeda's Homemade Butter Cookies in South Memphis -- where one male victim was found and pronounced dead at the scene.

A spokesman for the Memphis Police Department told ABC News that this is an ongoing investigation and no arrests have been made.

ABC News has reached out to the rapper's label, Paper Route EMPIRE, but requests for comment were not immediately returned.

In a video posted to the cookie shop's Instagram account last week, Young Dolph said that he visits Makedas each time he is in his hometown and is seen with chocolate chip cookies that he said are "straight out the oven."

"He was a fan of ours," Pamela Hill, whose family owns Makedas, told ABC News on Wednesday. "He loved chocolate chip cookies and ice cream was his favorite thing that he got every time and he always called me mom."

Upon hearing the news, tributes poured in from the rapper's friends and collaborators in the music world, expressing their sadness and shock.

"R. I.P. to my friend Dolph this broke my heart," Gucci Mane tweeted.

"I appreciate you and gone miss ya Dolph," 2 Chainz tweeted.

Megan Thee Stallion, who was featured on the rapper's song "RNB (Visualizer)" tweeted that she is "sick" and in "disbelief" over the news of the rapper's death.

Over the past decade, the rapper rose to prominence in the indie hip-hop scene by releasing a series of mixtapes and founded his independent record label Paper Route Empire in 2010.

Dolph was born in Chicago but grew up in Memphis and released his first studio album, "The King of Memphis," in 2016.

He was injured in a previous shooting in Los Angeles in September 2017.

He had two children, son Tre Tre and daughter Ari, with longtime partner Mia Jaye. He mentioned both his kids by name in his 2020 single, "Sunshine."
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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Rapper Young Dolph shot and killed at bakery in Memphis

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The rapper was visiting a cookie shop in his hometown when the shooting occured. Rapper Young Dolph, whose given name is Adolph Robert Thornton Jr., was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee, on Wednesday afternoon. He was 36. "The preliminary information indicates that the victim is Adolph Robert Thornton Jr.

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Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration At Army's Top Medical Facility