ALQST today released the findings of a confidential survey of Saudi nationals in exile, "The Saudi Diaspora: A growing community of emigrés and refugees". This groundbreaking report, richly illustrated with quotes, explores the reasons why increasing numbers of Saudi nationals are fleeing their wealthy country, and the continuing challenges they face while living abroad, including cybersurveillance and online harassment by the Saudi state.
According to data from the UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, the number of Saudi Arabians fleeing their country and seeking asylum abroad has increased significantly over the past decade, a period that has also seen a marked increase in authoritarianism and loss of freedom in Saudi Arabia.
The participants in ALQST’s survey, conducted in early 2024, were a diverse cohort, reflecting the demographic diversity of Saudi Arabia itself. A high proportion (46%) identified as refugees or asylum-seekers. Respondents had left Saudi Arabia for a variety of reasons, but the most frequently mentioned were a lack of political freedom (63%) or religious freedom (49%), and feelings of vulnerability because of their activism or that of family members, or because of their sexual orientation. A surprisingly high proportion (25%) cited domestic violence, with the failure of the Saudi system to provide protection being the factor that had driven victims to seek safety abroad. The overwhelming majority (93.5%) believed they would not be safe returning to Saudi Arabia, even if the authorities gave them assurances of safety.
“I’m certain that I won’t feel safe there. Maybe I won’t be arrested, but I’ll feel constantly under threat and vulnerable, with restrictions on my freedom.”
Asked about the difficulties they had experienced living abroad, both in their personal lives and in relation to their legal situation and career prospects, money, jobs and housing were the problems most frequently mentioned. For many Saudi exiles, however, cybersurveillance (44%) and harassment from online trolls (34%) were also significant issues. A third of all respondents reported mental health conditions including depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“I’ve been told that my name is on a ‘wanted’ list, and the government keeps hacking my phones.”
The use of Pegasus spyware by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to covertly monitor their citizens at home and abroad, including ALQST’s founder, Yahya Assiri, caused a scandal when it was first exposed in 2021, but the practice is clearly more widespread than previously realised.
ALQST’s Head of Monitoring and Advocacy Lina Alhathloul commented: “It’s shocking to learn that cybersurveillance and online trolling are being experienced by so many exiled Saudi nationals, even in the relative safety of their host countries. Governments need to take the issue of transnational repression much more seriously than they do at present.”
More than half the survey participants said they had no plans to go back to their home country, mostly because of personal safety concerns, fear and mistrust of the current Saudi government, and a perceived lack of legal protection for women and LGBT people. The changes the diaspora Saudis most wanted to see were political freedom/democracy (91%), improvements in employment opportunities and workers’ rights (68%), gender equality (54%) and acceptance of the LGBT community (41%).
“The citizen is the least of the government’s concerns... In their tyrannical understanding, citizens have no rights.”
The survey’s findings thus strongly reinforce ALQST’s repeated calls for wholesale reform and robust guarantees of basic rights for all Saudi citizens and residents without distinction. The report also suggests actions that host countries and the international community can take to support Saudi Arabians in exile and their desire for reforms at home, including:
- protecting Saudi nationals seeking asylum or at risk of deportation, and taking claims of threats to their safety seriously;
- addressing transnational repression in the form of cybersurveillance and cyberbullying;
and in order to tackle the root causes of Saudis fleeing their country:
- supporting and strengthening the work of civil associations of Saudi emigrés and human rights organisations like ALQST, and listening to their advocates at the United Nations and with governments and parliaments everywhere.
Note on methodology
The report is based on findings from a confidential online survey that was developed by ALQST in late 2023 and distributed privately in early 2024 to a wide network of Saudi citizens and former long-term residents of Saudi Arabia now living in the diaspora. To be eligible to take part, respondents had to be at least 18 years old, be a Saudi Arabian citizen or resident in exile, and identify as feeling unsafe to return to Saudi Arabia. The survey was administered and the responses were processed in both Arabic and English, with respondents able to take part in either language. A total of 100 individuals responded to the survey out of more than 200 contacted, and 67 of them – 57 Saudi nationals and five long-term former residents, the rest unspecified – completed it in part or in full.
Although the survey’s sample size was small, the response rate was impressive, especially when one considers the risks many perceived in taking part. Some who declined to participate, when asked why, cited digital security concerns and fears that their personal data might fall into the hands of the Saudi authorities, who might then punish them in some way, or arbitrarily arrest family members still living in the kingdom or ban them from travelling abroad. Against this background, ALQST’s researchers took their ethical responsibilities extremely seriously in their privacy and data protection processes, their communication with participants at every stage, and the framing of the questionnaire.
