Dissident Spotlight: Osama Khalid
Osama Khalid was a Wikipedia editor in Saudi Arabia whose edits regarding a prominent feminist activist may have landed him in prison.
While writers are often the targets of crackdowns on dissent, their translators can often end up in danger alongside them. For example, Hitoshi Igarashi was murdered for translating Salman Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses.
But authoritarian regimes aren’t only going after individual authors anymore. Wikipedia editors aren’t even safe from government attacks. Updating a page to reflect the reality of a regime’s gruesome tactics undermines the monopoly that authoritarians try to establish over information.
Osama Khalid is one of the Wikipedia editors targeted by a dictator. According to Pen America, Khalid is based in Saudi Arabia and updated a Wikipedia page about Loujain al-Hathloul, one of the women who fought for Saudi womens’ right to drive. She was in prison even after that right was granted where she has survived torture and abuse.
When Khalid was arrested in 2020, he was given a five-year sentence, which wasn’t uncovered publicly for two years. Upon appeal, Khalid’s sentence was increased to 32 years.
The Good Kind of Information
Two seemingly contradictory things are true about information.
One is that most information is junk food, an observation of Yuval Noah Harari’s. The other is that more information about certain topics is a nearly unmitigated good.
At a glance, it looks like a “sunlight is the best disinfectant” approach to the world is the best one. Transparency is clearly needed regarding the way the Saudi government operates and how it stifles dissent.
However, translators and editors like Khalid are actually uncovering useful details for people to know. It’s not just outrage or clickbait. Edits on Wikipedia become references for millions of users who take the information on those pages at face value. (Although, Wikipedia readers should double-check the information they glean from it.)
Khalid is one of many people toiling away at bringing basic facts to light that should be on hand for anyone reaching for them. He is also a reminder that any project that circumvents state control is a target for authoritarian regimes.