Saudi Arabia Warns Citizens About Sharing WikiLeaks Documents

Saudi Arabia has urged its citizens not to share documents that the WikiLeaks website began releasing on Friday. WikiLeaks has announced that it will publish over 500,000 diplomatic documents from Saudi Arabia, with approximately 61,000 documents already available online. Reuters reported on Saturday, June 30, that the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacted to WikiLeaks' actions by warning citizens about the release, stating that these documents 'could be fake.' However, as Reuters notes, the statement from the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was published on Twitter, does not directly deny the authenticity of these documents. WikiLeaks claims that the documents it has released include correspondence from Saudi embassies in various countries with the Saudi government, some of which reveal the country's positions on regional issues. Furthermore, Reuters adds that the Saudi royal government is highly sensitive to public criticism and has imprisoned several activists for their positions against the Saudi royal family. Consequently, there is strict oversight of domestic media. The statement from the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday was the only official response from the Saudi government to WikiLeaks' actions, which has been ignored by both state and non-state media in the country. Previously, WikiLeaks had released thousands of documents attributed to the U.S. government, some of which are also related to Saudi Arabia. For instance, one of these documents stated that the former King of Saudi Arabia requested the United States to attack Iran to destroy the Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities.