Saud alQahtani once stood at the centre of Saudi Arabia’s experiment in digital power projection, combining media strategy, cyber capabilities and, according to multiple governments and rights organisations, the monitoring and suppression of dissent. While Saudi authorities have rarely addressed his role in detail, sanctions filings, court documents and activist testimonies have gradually outlined an informal but farreaching mandate: to defend the state’s image, including through the targeting of critics at home and abroad.

AlQahtani’s influence extended beyond communications. As head of a powerful media apparatus, he has been linked in reporting to wider security practices that blurred the line between online operations and coercive enforcement. The U.S. Treasury’s 2018 designation under the Global Magnitsky Act is well established, and analysts at the Atlantic Council described the absence of prosecution as “glaring,” raising broader questions about accountability for those alleged to have designed such operations.

Reporting by the New York Times, echoed by other international media, described a covert unit established around 2017 to address dissent, with U.S. officials indicating it was “managed by Saud alQahtani.” According to these accounts, the group’s remit included surveillance, detention and the alleged mistreatment of activists. Testimonies cited by outlets such as Middle East Eye include statements from Alia alHathloul, who said alQahtani was present during the abuse of her sister, Loujain alHathloul. Such accounts........

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