Marwan al-Muraisy

Yemeni journalist. Freelance reporter Marwan al-Mureisi covered technology and social media platforms and steered clear of politics throughout his career of more than a decade as a journalist. He was arrested on June 1, 2018, and finally was allowed to contact him family almost a year later. No charges have been disclosed.  Authorities arrested al-Mureisi on June 1, 2018, at the Specialized Medical Center Hospital in Riyadh, while he was at the bedside of his five-year-old son, according to Khatab Alrawhani, a Yemeni journalist in Washington, D.C., with knowledge of al-Mureisi’s case, citing sources close to al-Mureisi. His arrest was also reported by the human rights organization Al-Qst, which said in a joint statement with other international rights groups that he was arrested at his home. Alrawhani told CPJ that al-Mureisi’s son was left alone in the hospital, and that relatives later received a call of unknown origin telling them to go to the hospital to attend to him. Al-Mureisi wrote for the privately owned Saudi website Al-Sabq and other outlets, as well as posting on his Twitter account and YouTube channel. Alrawhani told CPJ that al-Mureisi did not touch on politics, religion, or sensitive social issues in his reporting, which was mainly technology-focused. The human rights organization Al-Karama similarly reported that al-Mureisi did not report on politics. The organization said al-Mureisi once appeared on a program hosted by Salman al-Awdah, a television cleric who himself was later detained, and discussed how internet technology could reach the Arab world. In September 2017, authorities under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman began arresting perceived dissidents, including journalists, academics, religious figures and activists, including those who were previously critical of the Saudi government, as well as independent thinkers and writers who did not publicly state their support for the crown prince or his policies. On May 13, 2019, al-Mureisi’s sister said in a tweet that he had contacted the family by phone and confirmed that he was being held by Saudi authorities. In October 2019, Alrawhani told CPJ that al-Mureisi’s family was allowed to visit him once a month and talk to him on the phone once a week. Alrawhani said al-Mureisi was last interrogated in July and was told that he would be released soon, and that he would not appear before a court; however, he said there had been no further updates since then. According to Alrawhani, al-Mureisi is being held at al-Hair prison in Riyadh.