Saudi Arabia Takes Steps to Crack Down on Religious Hate Speech
- Kingdom criticized as promoting intolerant strain of Islam
- Twitter users referred to public prosecutor for violations
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Saudi Arabia summoned a group of Twitter users this week in an effort to crack down on hate speech, the government’s Center for International Communication said.
The Department of Public Prosecution “will now have the powers to charge offenders who are accused of spreading hate speech, creating social conflict and threatening peace and security through social media channels,” the government said in a statement on Monday. The Twitter users were accused of publicizing hate speech, inciting violence and oppressing minorities, it said.