Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07RIYADH1822
2007-08-29 15:36:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Riyadh
Cable title:  

SAUDI EDITION AL-HAYAT CROSSES THE LINE, GETS

Tags:  KDEM KPAO PGOV PHUM SA 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO3322
OO RUEHDE RUEHDIR
DE RUEHRH #1822 2411536
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 291536Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY RIYADH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6405
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHJI/AMCONSUL JEDDAH PRIORITY 8997
C O N F I D E N T I A L RIYADH 001822 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/29/2017
TAGS: KDEM KPAO PGOV PHUM SA
SUBJECT: SAUDI EDITION AL-HAYAT CROSSES THE LINE, GETS
THREE DAY BAN

Classified By: CDA Michael Gfoeller for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L RIYADH 001822

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/29/2017
TAGS: KDEM KPAO PGOV PHUM SA
SUBJECT: SAUDI EDITION AL-HAYAT CROSSES THE LINE, GETS
THREE DAY BAN

Classified By: CDA Michael Gfoeller for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: According to KSA's most influential
newspaper editor, Turki Al-Sudairi, Al-Hayat has been shut
down for three days for implying a connection between
respected religious scholars and a Saudi university, and
Al-Qaeda Iraq in a Monday, August 27 article. While an
unusual shut-down, we are told publishing would resume
imminently. Comment: We believe the article, which
precipitated the confiscation of 250,000 copies of Al-Hayat
from newsstands before they went on sale, was deemed
intolerable. The KSA media environment has been relaxing
over the past year, but this incident apparently pushed too
far, breaking the proverbial camel's back. End comment and
summary.

THE SHUT-DOWN: UNUSUAL CONFISCATION
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


2. (C) Al-Sudairi, Editor in Chief of Al-Riyadh newspaper,
President of the Saudi Journalists and Gulf Journalists
Associations, and royal insider, told Public Affairs officers
August 29 that Al-Hayat was shut down because it published
misinformation on an Al-Qaeda official (Saudi national
Mohammmed Subaithi, AKA Abusulaiman Al-Otaibi) and his Saudi
ties, implicating Imam Mohammed University and several
respected Saudi religious scholars as having ties to
terrorism. Al-Sudairi told EmbOffs this was the first
shut-down of its kind in his 34 year career. This case,
unique because the 250,000 copies of the paper containing the
article in question were confiscated from newsstands, and
unlike previous production suspensions that were punitive,
occurred after offensive materials were published. He
alleged other papers had also pushed the Kingdom's limits in
the past, but he thought the misinformation, potentially
tarnishing reputations of a respected university and
religious scholars, exceeded the Kingdom's limits.

A WARNING, AND A DOUBLE MESSAGE
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


3. (C) Al-Sudairi and other contact sources have suggested
a growing Information Ministry disapproval of the
hard-hitting investigative journalism style by the
Saudi-owned daily's reporters helped precipitate the swift
action. Contacts suggested that red lines had already been
crossed by provocative and critical coverage of local issues
which had now accumulated, breaking the proverbial camel's
back. Al-Sudairi and other contacts suggested this warning
also sends a message to other publications that the
Information Ministry is monitoring -- and will enforce -- the
pace of media liberalization.


COMMENT
- - - - -


4. (C) Turki Al-Sudairi is the most influential newspaper
editor in the Kingdom. We should note that Al-Hayat, as
published in the Kingdom, contains Saudi-specific stories not
found in Pan-Arab Al-Hayat distributed outside of the
Kingdom. We believe the naming of Saudi religious scholars
and a Saudi university in the context of Al-Qaeda activity in
Iraq, whether accurate or not, was intolerable. We believe
this three-day stoppage is a warning sign to the paper to
pull back and to others to stay in line. The KSA media
environment is relaxing, but at the Government's pace, not
Al-Hayat's. We understand the paper will resume publication
tomorrow, August 30.
GFOELLER