SAUDI dissidents who fled abroad to escape repression at home are looking over their shoulders. On October 2nd Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi journalist and government critic (pictured), went to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to file paperwork for a new marriage. As The Economist went to press on October 4th, his fiancée was still waiting for him to return. Turkish customs officials were scouring the ports with his photograph, fearing the Saudis had kidnapped him.

Since Muhammad bin Salman became crown prince of Saudi Arabia last year, thousands of dissidents have been jailed, often for offences as slight as failing to tweet royal talking points. The geographical scope of the repression is also expanding. Last month a Saudi satirist in London claimed he had been beaten by thugs from the Saudi embassy.

Some of the repression has come in the service of reform. Prince Muhammad has reined in spendthrift princes and neutered the religious police, who enforced a strict interpretation of Islamic law. Now Saudi Arabia has pop concerts, cinemas and female drivers. “One word from these sheikhs could cause lots of problems,” says a Saudi official. “Sometimes you have to balance the individual good against the good of society.”

But rather than courting support, Prince Muhammad is ruling by fear. For all his promises of due process, most political prisoners are held without trial. They are the lucky ones. Essam al-Zamil, an economist, was reportedly charged with terrorism after questioning the proposed sale of part of the national oil company, which has since been postponed. The public prosecutor has called for Israa al-Ghomgham, a women’s rights activist, to be executed. He wants Salman al-Awdah, once the country’s most popular television preacher, to be killed too. Some whisper that Prince Muhammad has launched an inquisition.

Correction (October 3rd, 2018): We originally wrote that Essam al-Zamil, an economist, was convicted of terrorism. He has been charged with terrorism. Sorry.

Dig deeper

An interview with Jamal Khashoggi (July 26th 2018)