Independent journalist Zuhair Kutbi was arrested in January 2019. He had previously been imprisoned from 2015 to 2017. CPJ could not determine whether he was active as a journalist since his release from prison in 2017. His most recent arrest came amid a crackdown on journalists in Saudi Arabia, including several who had not been active for some time.
Kutbi was arrested on January 10, 2019, according to Yahya Assiri, founder of the U.K.-based Saudi human rights organization Al-Qst, and Qatari news website Al-Sharq, which cited a post from a Twitter account named “prisoners of conscience.” It is not clear who is behind the Twitter account, which has been reporting on politically motivated detentions in Saudi Arabia since March 2014.
The reason for the arrest was unclear. According to Human Rights Watch, authorities banned Kutbi from writing as one of the conditions of his release in 2017 from the earlier imprisonment.
In March 2019, The Guardian reported that Kutbi was one of four journalists being held in solitary confinement and suffering from malnourishment, denial of medical treatment, and alleged torture. The “detainees of conscience” account tweeted on March 7, 2019, that Kutbi was denied treatment for cancer and diabetes.
Kutbi was imprisoned from July 2015 to November 2017, on charges of "inciting against the state" and "insulting state symbols," according to Mohamed Jameel, Kutbi’s father who spoke with CPJ in 2015. The journalist previously contributed to the news website Makkah Online and his own website—which has since been taken offline—and often criticized the government. He has published several books on topics encompassing politics, geography, history, and social and philosophical issues.
On June 22, 2015, he appeared as a guest on a talk show called "Fi Al-Sameem,” on a Saudi YouTube channel called “Khalejia,” where Kutbi criticized the country’s national dialogue as a waste of time and money, and said his remarks had been edited out of the broadcast of the most recent meeting.
Al-Qst Deputy Director Josh Cooper told CPJ in an email in November 2022 that Kutbi has not yet been brought to trial. CPJ could not determine the status of his health in prison.
In September 2022, CPJ emailed the Saudi Center for International Communication, a media ministry department in charge of public relations, requesting comment on the health and status of Kutbi and other imprisoned journalists, but did not receive a response.