He doesn’t even accept what his country is called Saudi Arabia. “We’d better talk about the Arabian Peninsula,” he says at the start of an interview he’s given to the media since the start of his Spanish exile. March al Otaibi With these lines, he breaks his silence to speak out against the House of Saud, a tribe that, after more than two centuries of wars with rival clans and foreign invaders, founded what is now Saudi Arabia 90 years ago, blessed with the discovery of oil.

Al Otaibi, a biochemistry graduate who has trained at one of the most prestigious universities in Canada And France, a polyglot activist who fled Riyadh in September 2018. Since then, he has been secretly living in a Spanish city, whose name he demands kept secret for fear of reprisals. “I ran away because my life was in danger. They followed me. I spent months thinking the danger was on the other side of the door,” he says.

Civil disobedience

Access for communication Independent try to shed light on the tragedy of Noura, a member of the Saudi opposition with whom he co-founded National Initiative for Change, an organization that seeks to overthrow the Saudi monarchy and democratize the country. Noora, 50, was sentenced to 45 years in prison for her social media activity on charges of “spreading lies through tweets”.

“I have never met her in person, but I have always been impressed by her meeting skills and clarity of speech. He quickly understood the theory of a civil disobedience movement,” says Marzok, who was sentenced to six months in prison and a year-long ban from leaving the country, as well as to the closure of accounts and a ban on publishing articles or speaking in public before escaping.

The dissident is teaming up with Nura in criticizing a “medieval monarchy” that, apart from its commitment to sport as a facelift – from Formula 1 to the Dakar or exotic urban megaprojects led by heirs – denies its subjects their political freedoms and rights. indicates serious violations of human rights. “The problem lies with the royal family. Princes from childhood are brought up in the humiliation of the rest of the people. Relations between the people and the royal family have always been based on this principle,” he said.

order to silence

Saudi justice accuses Marzok of “threats to public order and the social structure of the country.” “These are always vague allegations that are not clearly defined even on paper.” Marzok, who spent years as a columnist for various Saudi newspapers before calls for a constitution destroyed him, knows he survived. “There is no trace left of these opinions. They were removed from the archive,” he laments. “I have always believed that my country needs a social contract that does not leave its citizens defenseless, as it is now in the face of power. This would be a step towards the recognition of freedom of speech, opinion, assembly and freedom of movement. Currently, at least two million Saudi citizens are under a travel ban.”

In the summer of 2018, an opponent, a former professor of biology at King Saud University in Riyadh, interrupted his vacation in Spain to return to Riyadh to attend a subpoena. “This was the last court session. He had to go back and close some things before he escaped. I packed my bags and said goodbye to my family. I was lucky, and I was not banned from leaving the country, to the surprise of the judge, ”he recalls. In the last months of his stay in Saudi Arabia, Marzok feared for his fate. “I was awakened by some footsteps in the hallway. I knew that for some I talked too much and was afraid of arrest.”

They impoverished you, humiliated you, robbed your wealth, usurped your right

DECLARATION OF A MARZOQ-GOVERNED MOVEMENT

The first manifesto with which the organization burst onto the public stage is significant: “For our people in the Arabian Peninsula, for a whole century and since the Saudi regime has occupied our country, the House of Saud has subjected you to all kinds of oppression, injustice, humiliation and aggression. They played with religion and attacked the rites of Islam without regard for all of you. They arrested women in their bedrooms; also scholars and monastics, and tortured them in prisons. They impoverished you, humiliated you, plundered your wealth, usurped your right and took it from you.”

Since then, more than a dozen members of the group have been arrested. To complicate the task of repressing the intelligence apparatus, members of the internal exile participate in conversations without identifying themselves. “We have an agreement not to provide personal data. Even many of those outside the country prefer to remain anonymous,” he says. “We know that there are state security saboteurs in the group. One day one took the floor to tell us that we all deserved to be torn to pieces by a saw as traitors.

Against the future king of Saudi Arabia

Marzoc, who has found his place in Spanish geography, has no doubts. “Saudi is a regime of occupation and population control. They treat people the same as the colonial powers. They have wealth that does not belong to them,” he replies. Members of the movement he leads “do not talk about religion.” Private affairs in a country where the shrines of Islam are located is a red line. “We are united by political aspirations and the belief that the only solution for the Arabian Peninsula to become a respected country and have good relations with the whole world is to overthrow the current regime.”

His darts are aimed at the “de facto” leader, Bin Salman, in his thirties, who achieved a meteoric rise after a 2017 palace coup that divided the rest of the branches of the royal family and catapulted him to the first line of succession. . The check that paved the way for him to the throne of his octogenarian father. “He is my enemy and he will eventually fall,” he claims. “I am convinced that he will never become king. People are living in an unprecedented state of fear, and I don’t think they can last that long with increasing poverty. Its relationship with the Western world is complex. He is an aggressive person who threatens the security and stability of our society and the world.”

“Bin Salman did a good deed: he destroyed the royal family,” Marzok glides. “Now they have internal divisions, they have lost power, money and freedom,” he explains. To cement his absolute dominance, bin Salman went so far as to arrest dozens of Saudi royals accused of corruption and imprisoned them for weeks at Riyadh’s Ritz Carlton, which was turned into a gilded cage. His release, the dropper, was coordinated with economic and business assignments.

From Yemen to the persecution of Saudi dissent

The crown prince’s orders also hit Yemenis, the victims of the Saudi bombings since 2015, and Saudi opponents hard. In the past year, Amnesty International condemns, the persecution of those who use virtual spaces to express their opinions has intensified. In 2022, up to 15 people were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 to 45 years for peaceful online activities.

“This is something we have noticed recently. The sentences are getting longer. This is part of a more brutal tactic that also includes more executions,” the activist warns. The unsolved case that has caused the most international outcry in the past five years is the brutal murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. The fate of the body, probably cremated at the consul’s residence, remains unknown. indefinite, mystery.

Marzok, however, does not believe that he risks drowning out Khashoggi’s critical voice despite the threats he receives online. “He was more famous and important person for them. I don’t think they would dare to do that to other dissidents,” he replies, aware of the implications of his order for the Saudi elite. “I’m already paying. I lost my friends one by one in prisons; I left my job and also my family and my country. The thought of my colleagues being tortured on a daily basis is also part of the bill. But I am ready to continue to pay for it, even at the cost of my own life.

The future must meet the ambitions of the people: democracy, freedoms and a good standard of living for all

In the midst of exile, the dissident claims he has not given up hope. “If I lost him, what I do and still fight for would not make sense,” he replies. Despite his defeats, Marzok continues to dream of a homeland different from the one that the Saud clan today controls and whose international rehabilitation they spend a fortune in Western public relations agencies. “The future must meet the ambitions of the people: democracy, freedoms and a good standard of living for all. The constitution must give the people back their rights.”

His words are in line with the manifesto of the Marzok organization: “The time has come for you to rise up and restore your sovereignty, your dignity, your land and your destiny. Your rights will not be returned until you remove the regime that rules the Arabian Peninsula and controls its fate and the fate of its people, plotting against you and your religion.”