Whistleblower Spotlight -- Saudi Arabia's Twitter Whistleblower @mujtahidd

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team

This week’s “Whistleblower Spotlight” shines on the unidentified individual who goes by the Twitter handle @mujtahidd. With more than 1.5 million followers, he appears to be on a one-man crusade to expose corruption in and bring transparency to this historically tight-lipped desert kingdom of 28 million people. Choosing a moniker which in Arabic translates into “an authoritative interpreter of the religious law of Islam,” this anonymous whistleblower has become a force to be reckoned with in Saudi Arabia with his principal focus on the ruling elites.

In a recent interview he gave with the online publication OZY, he made clear the point behind his vitriolic anti-Royals’ campaign: “I want to contribute to change in Saudi Arabia. . . . Exposing corruption contributes to accelerating political change. The more aware people are of what goes on, the more they will be ready to act.” And with 2.4 million active Twitter users, the most of any country in the region, @mujtahidd apparently has found a widely accepted platform to side-step this otherwise tightly repressed society. “I won’t stop until Saudi Arabia has a regime change,” he says, meaning “a government that provides power sharing, accountability and transparency.”

How he has escaped detection remains a mystery. And whether he will continue to do so is anyone’s guess. Some suspect he is a member of the Royal Family or is being protected by someone who is. The whistleblower himself claims the powers that be would never disclose his identity because “it would be too embarrassing . . . like saying that the White House’s chief of staff is a Russian spy.” Whether they can’t stop him or won’t, this Twitter whistleblower continues on his merry way — more than two years and counting — exposing the deep dark secrets of this Royal Kingdom tweet by tweet.

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