From Prison Sentences For Online Posts To Malicious Spyware Attacks, This Year’s IGF Host Is Entrenched In Abuse

12 December

With the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2024 starting this December 15, the stark contradiction between digital repression in Saudi Arabia — this year’s host country — and the IGF’s mission of fostering inclusive digital spaces and human rights couldn’t be more glaring. The Saudi government continues to escalate its crackdown on freedom of expression, with over 300 people executed in 2024 alone, including more than 100 foreign nationals. Authorities routinely engage in arbitrary arrests, unfair trials, and severe sentences to suppress dissent and control public spaces.

Ahead of the event, Access Now, along with 20 other civil society organizations, is demanding that Saudi authorities release all prisoners of conscience and ensure the safety of all IGF attendees. In a statement published today, the organizations urge that IGF participants — including states, international organizations, and individuals — must publicly advocate for the release of detainees and address the ongoing human rights crisis in Saudi Arabia. Unless urgent steps are taken to address these violations, the IGF risks becoming a platform for legitimizing repression.

“The Internet Governance Forum has been a critical fora for centering human rights in tech policy discussions, and Saudi Arabia can’t be allowed to use it to whitewash its abhorrent human rights record,” says Marwa Fatafta, MENA Policy and Advocacy Director at Access Now. “How can this year’s IGF claim to promote digital rights while people in Saudi Arabia face egregious prison sentences for tweeting and editing Wikipedia pages — the international community must speak up!”

Read the joint statement: https://www.accessnow.org/press-release/joint-statement-saudi-arabia-internet-governance-forum-2024/

© Scoop Media