Joel Campagna

Skeptic and native Buffalonian. @MideastDC and former @OpenSociety. Opinions my own.

[American Committee for Middle East Rights @ACMER_US]

Soon after taking power, Emir Meshal launched one of the most expansive campaigns of citizenship revocations in the region’s recent history – and the numbers are staggering.

An estimated 75,000 Kuwaitis have been stripped of citizenship since parliament was dissolved. Counting dependents who lose status with them, the real toll is likely in the hundreds of thousands. The human toll has been severe.

[American Committee for Middle East Rights @ACMER_US]

Yesterday, plans to advance settlement construction in the E-1 corridor were delayed. A welcome — but temporary — victory.

Building in E-1 would effectively bisect the West Bank, cutting off Palestinian communities and further cementing Israel's occupation.

Last week, 85 Members of Congress led by @RepMarkPocan and @janschakowsky urged the administration to oppose these plans. More lawmakers must speak out until E-1 is permanently shelved.
https://t.co/LfOsHpoKDK

[Middle East Democracy Center @MideastDC]

🚨 NEW: We welcome the return of US citizen Saad Almadi to the US following the lifting of his travel ban by Saudi authorities.

We urge the Trump admin to secure the release of other US citizens wrongfully detained by US allies in the MENA. Read more ⬇️
https://t.co/PD4pWBmvlC

[Seth Binder @seth_binder]

MBS’s Saudi Arabia just executed another Saudi journalist, Turki al-Jasser, a few months ago. https://t.co/4vCqllbtii

[Middle East Democracy Center @MideastDC]

Here's just some of MBS' "incredible" human rights work:
✅Executing at least 345 ppl in 2024, the most in recent history
✅Executing at least 302 so far in 2025, incl journalist Turki al-Jasser
✅Entrapping American Saad Almadi in #SaudiArabia over tweets
https://t.co/4o3VKYdfZR

[Responsible Statecraft @RStatecraft]

NEW @seth_binder @MideastDC @WilliamHartung: The Saudi Crown Prince will be getting the royal treatment at the White House on Tuesday and we all have to ask, why?
The answer will not satisfy. (full below)

[Middle East Democracy Center @MideastDC]

🚨 Tomorrow, #MBS will be welcomed into the White House. The visit will be his 1st since the gruesome murder of US resident and Washington Post columnist #JamalKhashoggi. Without pushback, the visit risks emboldening the crown prince’s reckless foreign and domestic policy🧵

[Joel Campagna @JCAMP2]

Saad Almadi, 75, was jailed for 14 tweets. Freed—but still can’t come home. Why is an American trapped in Saudi Arabia for tweets he posted in the U.S.?

⬇️ Watch the video below ⬇️

#LetSaadLeave

[Middle East Democracy Center @MideastDC]

As MBS visits the US, 75-year-old American Saad Almadi remains trapped in #Saudi Arabia, punished for tweets posted years before in the US. Although he's been released from prison, Almadi is still barred from returning home to America. #LetSaadLeave

[Middle East Democracy Center @MideastDC]

Alongside 10 other rights groups, we urge US policymakers to prioritize Saudi's human rights abuses during Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s expected visit to DC next week, his first since the brutal murder of @washingtonpost columnist Jamal Khashoggi. https://t.co/Vo6I3fEhj4

[Joel Campagna @JCAMP2]

#أوقفوا_الإعدامات #FreeThemAll

[Middle East Democracy Center @MideastDC]

بينما يستقبل ترامب #محمد_بن_سلمان في أمريكا لأول مرة منذ مقتل #خاشقجي، أعدمت السلطات #السعودية أكثر من 300 شخص في في 2025 وحدها، بينما يزال آلاف السجناء السياسيين خلف القضبان.
اطلقوا سراح المعتقلين الآن!
 #FreeThemNow #أوقفوا_الإعدامات

[Joel Campagna @JCAMP2]

#FreeThemAll #EndTheExecutions

[Middle East Democracy Center @MideastDC]

On Nov 18, #MBS will visit the US for the 1st time since #Khashoggi’s murder. He will be welcomed as a partner despite brutal repression in #SaudiArabia

300+ executed in 2025, and thousands detained.

No handshake can erase this brutal record. #FreeThemAll #EndTheExecutions

[Jonathan Guyer @mideastXmidwest]

Required reading as American business titans arrive in MBS's Saudi Arabia for the annual Davos in the Desert.

[Middle East Democracy Center @MideastDC]

🚨NEW: #SaudiArabia is on track to break its own execution record in 2025, with an alarming increase in executions for non-lethal offenses, MEDC and @Reprieve find in a new fact sheet. 🧵
https://t.co/UQeYPVzCFL

[Joel Campagna @JCAMP2]

The Last Columbia Protester in ICE Detention | The New Yorker https://t.co/EfEjIYQ26N

[SMEX @SMEX]

BREAKING: Who’s really leading the cyberweapons industry in West Asia and North Africa?
New research by SMEX exposes Israel-linked spyware vendors at the helm of the industry with the UAE and Saudi Arabia among top buyers.

https://t.co/oFsd17Ti5Q

[Nader Hashemi @naderalihashemi]

Not a Joke: American Comedians are Helping Saudi Arabia Whitewash Repression

by @aalodah

https://t.co/yUhsUVeMZZ

@mehdirhasan @MadawiDr @sarahleah1

[Seth Binder @seth_binder]

US comedians participating in the upcoming comedy festival in Saudi Arabia should use their privileged platform to call out the Saudi govt for its lack of free speech. They should know that countless Saudis are suffering in prison for exercising their right to free speech.

[Joel Campagna @JCAMP2]

While defending free speech at home, American comedians are helping whitewash repression abroad—performing in Riyadh at the Saudi Comedy Festival. My colleague @aalodah breaks it down in this powerful op-ed.

[Middle East Democracy Center @MideastDC]

American comedians are helping #SaudiArabia whitewash repression.

Comedians @DaveChappelle @azizansari @WhitneyCummings @billburr @jimmycarr & others taking the stage in Riyadh this week should speak up for Saudis jailed for exercising their free speech.
https://t.co/m6T0iVP40K

[Middle East Democracy Center @MideastDC]

American comedians are helping #SaudiArabia whitewash repression.

Comedians @DaveChappelle @azizansari @WhitneyCummings @billburr @jimmycarr & others taking the stage in Riyadh this week should speak up for Saudis jailed for exercising their free speech.
https://t.co/m6T0iVP40K

[Joel Campagna @JCAMP2]

An American citizen is banned from leaving Saudi Arabia over tweets posted on U.S. soil. Saad Almadi should be reunited with his family in Florida and to access the medical care he needs.

[Middle East Democracy Center @MideastDC]

🚨BREAKING: Saudi Arabia has resentenced 75 year old US citizen Saad Almadi, handing down a travel ban that will keep him trapped in the country until March 2026.

His crime? Posting tweets critical of the Saudi government while in the US. Read more ⬇️
https://t.co/mOVMKLq5nw