Some Saudi activists living outside Saudi Arabia are petrified after the disappearance of another activist and have expressed concern about their fate.
The Washington Post reported that one of the Saudi opponents mysteriously disappeared in the Canadian capital and then reappeared in Riyadh, prompting fear and anxiety among the opposition. Saudi Arabia has increased in Canada.
The American newspaper noted that “Ahmed Abdullah Al-Harbi”, a Saudi dissident living in the Canadian capital, disappeared from Montreal in January 2021.
Al-Harbi disappeared after visiting his country’s embassy in Canada, human rights activists suspect he may have been forced to return to Saudi Arabia, they worry that al-Harbi will be forced to provide information to Saudi officials due to pressure and torture by Saudi officials. It might endanger the security of other activists and threaten their lives.
On the other hand, Saudi activists living outside Saudi Arabia are trying to hide from Saudi officials.
Al-Harbi arrived in Canada in 2019, where he sought political asylum and declared his support for freedom of expression for prisoners in Saudi Arabia. Al-Harbi appeared in only one film during his asylum in Canada, and a few days ago Al-Harbi mysteriously went to the Saudi embassy in Ottawa.
He wrote on his Twitter: “Praise be to God, I have returned home and there is no feeling better in this world than the feeling of staying between family and friends at home.”
According to al-Harbi’s friends, he worked on several projects with other Saudi oppositions abroad, including joining a network of volunteer activists on Twitter and creating a Saudi opposition talk show, the clip of which was shared on YouTube. He also worked against the electronic files used by the Saudi government to crack down on Saudi critics and dissidents.
“We have people who use pseudonyms, and Saudi officials may now be in a position to know the details of the Saudi opposition abroad,” said Omar Abdul Aziz, a prominent Saudi opposition figure, on a Canadian television program and on Twitter.
Abdul Aziz and two other friends of al-Harbi also said in an interview that al-Harbi disappeared after blocking them from SnapChat and leaving all Snapchat groups.
Al-Harbi also called at least two of his friends, Abdul Aziz and Omar al-Zuhairi, and told them that he had gone to the Saudi embassy.
He has been interrogated and tortured to reveal the names and identities of Saudi opposition activists in Canada, and has named other activists.
According to an American Al-Harbi newspaper, the phone call stated that Saudi officials had asked questions about the activities of Omar Abdul Aziz and his plans.
He also said he felt his family was being severely threatened in Saudi Arabia. Describing his visit to the Saudi embassy in Canada, he added: “When you enter the embassy, you feel like ‘Jamal Khashoggi,’ a critical Saudi journalist.
Harbi told Abdul Aziz that embassy staff had given him a ticket to Saudi Arabia and transferred him to the airport.
But after a while, a new account was created called Al-Harbi, in which he was no longer an anti-Saudi person in this account; Rather, he talked about his return to his homeland and expressed his happiness in this regard, and shared the ticket to return to his country on February 7th.
