This is part of a series of investigative reports published in collaboration with Daraj media

Arabi Facts Hub 12.05.2023

The death of Eden, a Saudi transgender woman, sparked attacks on government critics who live outside of the Kingdom and caused debate over the “true narrative” of what took place. 

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The prevailing narrative - supported by solidarity hashtags - suggests that the Eden committed suicide after facing pressure from her powerful family in the Kingdom. There were also attempts to amplify a contradictory narrative that seems to have been pushed by individuals close to the family on Tik Tok. 

Protests were organized outside Saudi embassies, where some acts were deemed offensive to the Kingdom after protesters stepped on the Saudi flag. Circulation of footage of the incident led to the emergence of a counter-tweeting campaign on Twitter, which turned into an attack on the opposition, especially the National Assembly Party, founded by Saudi activists living in Western countries, in September 2020. The attack came days after an uproar on Twitter was caused by the departure of Saudi cleric Emad Al Mobayed from the Kingdom in protest against the policies of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Campaign kickoff

In a post on Twitter dated 12 March last year, Eden, a 23-year-old Saudi trans woman, tragically announced her suicide. The post detailed how her parents had enlisted "agents" in the United States and a Saudi lawyer in Washington, D.C., to bring her back to Saudi Arabia against her will. It also revealed her struggle to access the hormonal therapy crucial for her gender transition journey. The following day, the well-known Al Shathri family in Saudi Arabia announced the passing of their son "Nawaf," who legally shared the same name as Eden. Subsequently, the family announced the details of the  funeral and then restricted access to Eden’s Twitter account. Meanwhile, another account appeared with the name Nawaf bin Ibrahim Al Shathri and the owner introduced himself as the uncle of the deceased. 

Following the news of Eden’s death, calls for protests emerged outside several Saudi embassies. Activist Waad Al Harbi, a former member of the National Assembly Party, called for a protest in front of the embassy in London "to demand justice for Eden and to hold accountable those responsible for luring her and for her death." During the London protest, Waad Al Harbi and others were seen stepping on the Saudi flag, which sparked outrage among Saudi Twitter users. However, the activist stated, "Flags represent the entities of states and their political boundaries. This has nothing to do with Islam and Muslims," according to her tweet on Twitter. Meanwhile, several hashtags emerged criticizing the protests and the disrespect shown to the Saudi flag, including #Homosexual_Assembly_Party and #Opposition_Defiles_God’s_Name.

Between 20 March to 6 April, the hashtags garnered 5,288 tweets, the majority of which were retweets, with only 679 original tweets. Additionally, there were 9,479 likes.

It is worth noting that the first appearance of the hashtag #Homosexual_Assembly_Party was on the evening of 24 September 2020, by the Saudi account @EcH3P, known for sharing nationalist content in defense of the Kingdom. At that time, the account shared a short video attributed to the Saudi activist residing in Canada, Omar Abdulaziz, the day after the activist appeared in a video announcing the establishment of the National Assembly Party. Meanwhile, the hashtag #Opposition_Defiles_God’s_Name appeared on the day of the protest outside the Saudi embassy. It was launched by the account @R82DB on 24 March, urging users in a tweet (shown below to the left), "participate in the hashtag to expose them."

Opposition Attempts to Ride the Wave

483 accounts participated in promoting the two hashtags, a significant number of which had previously engaged in campaigns against the opposition. They were also highly active in campaigns with nationalist rhetoric and those in support of government policies.

There were attempts to amplify the message through Saudi accounts with a long history in online campaigns across social networks. This includes the account Dalal Al Sabr @dalal_sa23@, one of the most prominent accounts participating in the investigated hashtags with a total of 15 tweets. Dalal's account enjoys a following from well-known Saudi tweeps such as the writer Turki Al Hamad, Sukina Al Meshekhis, Souad Al Shammari, and Suleiman Al Dosari, the Saudi tweep interested in military affairs. 

According to Dalal’s content archive, her first account appeared on Twitter in 2015 and was subsequently  suspended by Twitter in 2017. Another account @dalal_sa21 was previously disabled in 2019 and 2020 before it was completely lost in 2021. Additionally, a third account, @Dalal_sa22, was suspended in 2020. All these accounts had political content, according to Dalal. A screenshot taken by a Twitter user provides a rare glimpse of the profile picture of Dalal's account with the handle @dalal_sa21. The screenshot showed an old tweet from her closed account in which she threatened to publish another user's photo. The suspension and closure of several of Dalal's Twitter accounts was linked to her involvement in online battles, particularly with Palestinian accounts who described Dalal as a "national propagandist".

On the other hand, Saudi activists living outside the Kingdom attempted to ride the Twitter wave by using hashtags attacking the opposition (#Homosexual_Assembly_Party and #Oppostion_Defiles_God’s_Name), to tweet criticism of the government, in an attempt to take advantage of the noticeable spread of the two hashtags. For example, the account @hudda_22, which describes itself as a "feminist activist, writer, and filmmaker from the land of Hejaz," led in terms of the number of published tweets (26 tweets) under the hashtag #Oppostion_Defiles_God’s_Name.

Similarly, the account of Taleb Abdulmohsen, who identifies himself as a former Saudi Muslim, was among the most active accounts on the hashtag #Oppostion_Defiles_God’s_Name, after he posted 12 tweets praising the trampling of the Saudi flag. Abdulmohsen claims to be a psychiatrist living in Germany, and he features the Israeli flag in his bio. He regularly posts tweets attacking Islam and praising atheism, along with providing guidance for those wishing to flee from Saudi Arabia to Europe.

Justice for Eden

Since the news broke of Eden’s tragic suicide, hashtags demanding justice for her gained traction. Foreign supporters joined in spreading these hashtags, standing in solidarity with Eden's case alongside Saudi activists like Waad AlHarbi and Laura Al Harthi, as well as the broader community of feminist activists advocating for women's rights beyond the Kingdom's borders.

Among the most prominent hashtags linked to Eden's case are: "#HerNameWasEden #JusticeForEden, and #The_Criminal_Fahd_Ibrahim_AlShathri. Collectively, these hashtags generated 47,204 tweets, including 4,124 original posts and numerous retweets, in addition to 254,972 likes. A total of 3,335 accounts have actively participated in promoting these hashtags. The hashtags have also been prominently displayed on banners during protests outside several Saudi embassies, particularly in London and Dublin.

Foreign accounts played a prominent role in spreading the story of Eden, particularly those proficient in English, showing a concerted effort to broaden awareness of her case. Some accounts claimed close ties and friendship with the victim, like the account @punishedmother, whose owner claims to have been a friend of Eden, actively rallying support for her cause and sharing numerous tweets. The account published what was labeled "details of Eden's abduction" through Google Docs. The tweet containing the link to these details reached an audience of 4.5 million accounts on Twitter. It also garnered tens of thousands of interactions.

Other tweets under these hashtags originated from Arab and Saudi accounts. Some of these accounts were advocates for secularism, while others belonged to groups supporting the rights of sexual and gender minorities.

Pushing a contrary narrative on Tik Tok

Tik Tok’s user base has significantly grown in Saudi Arabia over the past years. According to a study conducted by the Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, based in Saudi Arabia, there were 22 million Saudi users of the app in the Kingdom as of August 2022. Amidst the circulation of the narrative expressing solidarity with Eden’s case, which attributes blame to her family for her demise, another contrasting narrative surfaced on TikTok. This alternative narrative was promoted by influential social media personalities with hundreds of thousands of followers, garnering substantial engagement with their content. On 16 March, prominent social media account @ygolk shared a video titled "The Real Story" of what transpired with Eden. The account holder presented diverse claims about "the real story," alleging to have obtained these details from a woman "very close" to Eden’s family, without disclosing her identity.

In the "details," the account owner claimed that before transitioning to Eden, “Nawaf” was on a mission to the United States and stayed with a family that was not supportive. When Nawaf’s father discovered that he was taking female hormone medication, he sent his friends to persuade Nawaf to reconsider and return to Saudi Arabia, as per the account owner.

This individual, known for sharing light-hearted content, further stated that Eden was persuaded and came back to the Kingdom. Her father provided her with treatment and care until she abandoned her desire to transition to female and regained her masculine appearance under the care of doctors he arranged, treating her "very kindly," even allowing her to drive his car. The account also shared a photo purportedly of Eden in a masculine appearance while performing the Umrah pilgrimage. This video alone garnered nearly 4 million views, 3,955 comments, and 262,000 likes.

Tarnishing the opposition as part of the conflict

Last January, the UK Supreme Court accepted a review of the British Home Office's plan regarding the deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda. The plan, spanning five years, aims to curb what the government perceives as "illegal migration" by those crossing the English Channel in boats and hiding inside trucks. On the sidelines of the Saudi woman’s death, Saudi government supporters on Twitter invoked the British plan to mock Saudi dissidents fleeing the Kingdom, claiming they would be deported to Rwanda. They also spread false information suggesting that only homosexuals and atheists would not be deported to Rwanda. Among the participants in the mockery campaign was Rafe’ Al Omari, a content producer and former correspondent for the official Saudi channel Al Ekhbariya.

False information was attributed to Saudi cleric Emad Al Mobayed who is based in Britain. It claimed that he advocated for or endorsed homosexuality to avoid deportation. In early March, Al Mobayed announced his escape from the Kingdom in protest against attempts to "erase the identity of Islam," criticizing the unprecedented social and cultural changes in the country, as seen in videos on his Twitter account. During this time, there was a coordinated effort from Saudi accounts to attack the cleric, generating tens of thousands of tweets. 

Additionally, photo editing software was used to distort and attack, spreading hate speech against Saudi dissidents like Abdullah Al Ouda, Secretary-General of the National Assembly Party and son of imprisoned preacher Salman Alaoudh. Insulting terms, such as "electronic cockroaches," were usedto describe opponents, with the hashtag amassing over 5,000 tweets and 8,000 likes.