""The royals loved the show," said Bill Burr, a recently hired court jester to Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman (known familiarly as MBS), on his podcast Monday. "Everyone was happy." That's a relief, because the last people in Saudi Arabia you want unhappy with you is the Saudi royal family. Burr had just returned from the Riyadh Comedy Festival, which claims to be the biggest in the world."
"The litany of abuses the Saudis have on their permanent record is staggering. Saudi courts execute journalists for tweets, and MBS, its reigning crown prince, infamously ordered the murder of Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi. The Saudi regime allows modern-day slavery, executions for nonviolent crimes like adultery and blasphemy, as well as noncrimes like homosexuality. One blogger, Raif Badawi, received a sentence of 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison for "insulting Islam" and founding an online site for political debate."
Bill Burr attended the Riyadh Comedy Festival, which runs September 26 to October 5 and bills itself as the world's largest. The festival featured major US comedians who reportedly received substantial pay increases to perform in Saudi Arabia. The performances coincided with efforts to reshape the country's international image under Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman. The Saudi state maintains a record of severe human-rights abuses, including execution of journalists, ordering Jamal Khashoggi's murder, modern-day slavery, executions for adultery, blasphemy, and criminalization of homosexuality. A blogger, Raif Badawi, received 1,000 lashes and a 10-year prison term for insulting Islam and creating a political website. Flashy cultural events accompany ongoing reports of rights violations.
Read at The Nation
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