VZCZCXRO1860
PP RUEHDE
DE RUEHJI #0374/01 1410828
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 210828Z MAY 06
FM AMCONSUL JEDDAH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9170
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 1380
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1458
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 6504
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JEDDAH 000374 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
RIYADH, PLEASE PASS TO DHAHRAN; DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP; 
LONDON FOR TSOU; PARIS FOR ZEYA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KISL KWMN PGOV PREL PTER SA SCUL SOCI
SUBJECT: AL-SAHAT: AFTER BRIEF SHUTDOWN, ACCUSATIONS THAT 
CONGEN JEDDAH IS "CORRUPTING SAUDI WOMEN" 
 
REF: A. JEDDAH 263 
     ¶B. JEDDAH 356 
 
¶1.     SUMMARY. Al-Sahat, a popular Arabic-language website 
frequently denounced as extremist, mysteriously went offline 
from April 18 to 22, sparking rumors the Saudi government had 
caused the site to be shut down. ConGen Jeddah and its 
officers are regular subjects of commentary, criticism, and 
the occasional threat on the site, and shortly after full 
access to the site was restored, an online debate ensued 
accusing ConGen Jeddah of forming a liberal, mixed-gender 
Saudi society and of bribing writers to attack a prominent 
Saudi columnist critical of USG efforts to promote women's 
rights in the Kingdom. The debate echoed an earlier 
discussion in which Embassy Riyadh was accused of bribing 
journalists to plant stories in the press. END SUMMARY. 
 
AL-SAHAT: EXTREMIST MESSAGES, EXTREMELY POPULAR 
 
¶2.     Al-Sahat is an Arabic-language website consisting of a 
number of fora in which readers can post their opinions and 
join the debate on such topics as sports, cars, and 
computers, as well as political issues, terrorism, and Islam. 
Al-Sahat is based in Abu Dhabi, but most of the site's 
contributors come from Saudi Arabia. Since its establishment 
in the late 1990s, the site has been denounced regularly in 
the government-controlled Saudi media for the extremist views 
expressed by some contributors. Saudi posters have used the 
site to spearhead harsh campaigns against Saudi officials, 
including Ghazi al-Qusaibi, the Minister of Labor, and Iyad 
Madani, the Minister of Culture and Information, as well as 
liberal writers and public figures. 
 
¶3.     According to the Saudi-financed pan-Arab newspaper 
Asharq Alawsat, al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations 
and sympathizers have used al-Sahat to publicize their 
activities. For instance, one al-Sahat contributor, who went 
by the pseudonym Akhu man Ta' Allah, edited a magazine called 
"Voice of Jihad" and published it on al-Sahat, and, according 
to the Ministry of the Interior, was an active member of 
al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia until his arrest in May 2005. 
 
¶4.     Al-Sahat's owner Tariq Fares was reportedly offered 
4,000,000 Saudi riyals (approximately $1.1 million) for the 
site. Al-Sahat boasts more than 100,000 registered members, 
of whom 20,000 are thought to be active contributors. The 
site is now closed to new members, other than those 
"recommended" by a current member. According to Asharq 
Alawsat, membership is in such high demand that current 
members can sell their recommendation or old log-in 
information for as much as 4,000 Saudi riyals. 
 
AL-SAHAT GOES OFFLINE, SPARKING RUMORS OF SAUDI GOVERNMENT 
INVOLVEMENT 
 
¶5.     On April 18, al-Sahat readers were surprised to find 
the site unavailable. Abdullah Hasim, the assistant director 
of eCompany, the internet division of the United Arab 
Emirates telecommunications company Etisalat, attributed the 
site's going offline to technical difficulties. Al-Sahat went 
back online on April 22, but its political forum remained 
unavailable. Access to the political forum was restored on 
April 25, though discussions were, at first, more moderate 
than usual. By May 1, al-Sahat had returned to form. 
 
¶6.     Rumors circulated around Saudi Arabia that the Emirati 
government had shut al-Sahat down in response to pressure 
from the Saudi government. The King Abdulaziz City for 
Science and Technology (KACST), the Saudi governmental 
authority responsible for censoring the internet, has in the 
past blocked access to al-Sahat from the Kingdom. A few weeks 
ago, KACST blocked the site for several hours after a 
particularly scathing posting accused Ghazi al-Qusaibi of 
"conspiring against Islam." Now that access to al-Sahat has 
been restored, at least for the time being, posters have been 
discussing alternative ways to communicate with one another 
should the Saudi or Emirati government shut the site down 
permanently. 
 
CONGEN JEDDAH ACCUSED OF "UNLEASHING HIRED WRITERS" AGAINST 
SAUDI COLUMNIST 
 
 
JEDDAH 00000374  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶7.     ConGen Jeddah and its officers are regular subjects of 
commentary, criticism, and the occasional threat from 
al-Sahat contributors. Eyebrows were raised when, within 
hours of the May 12 shooting at ConGen Jeddah, the site 
carried a biography of the suspected shooter (reftel b). 
 
¶8.     On May 3, a poster wrote that ConGen Jeddah "has 
formed a liberal Saudi society for men and women that meets 
regularly at the Consulate" and, further, "is behind the 
agenda and speakers of the Jeddah Economic Forum." He went on 
to accuse the Consulate of bribing writers to attack Nora 
al-Saad, a columnist for the newspaper al-Riyadh, who has 
been critical of USG efforts to promote women's rights in 
Saudi Arabia. ConGen Jeddah, he wrote, "which is specialized 
in corrupting the Saudi Woman, unleashed its hired (or mad) 
writers to criticize the honorable Dr. Nora al-Saad." He 
cited an article published in al-Watan, the most liberal of 
Saudi Arabia's government-controlled papers, which, he 
claimed, was written by a Consulate "agent" and mocked 
al-Saad and "terrorized" her "by accusing her of belonging to 
al-Qaeda." The poster wrote that "these highly paid writers, 
who are influenced by the American Strategic Media and are 
highly ranked in their papers, are the tools of the 'American 
Democratic Islam Project.'" This online debate echoed an 
earlier discussion on al-Sahat, in which Embassy Riyadh was 
accused of bribing Saudi journalists to plant stories in the 
press (reftel a). 
Gfoeller