From the outside, the last few years looked like the peak of Abdul Aziz Almuzhaini’s career.
As the head of an animation studio in Saudi Arabia, he signed a five-year contract with Netflix in 2020. A sardonic cartoon franchise he helped create, “Masamir,” was soon streamed, likening it to a Saudi version of “South Park.” For a worldwide audience. And as the conservative Islamic kingdom unravels, Mr. Almuzani is being publicly celebrated — as he was a few months ago — as one of the homegrown talents shaping its nascent entertainment industry.
Behind the scenes, however, he has been on trial in an opaque national security court, as Saudi prosecutors – who accused him of promoting extremism through a cartoon series and social media posts – want to ensure he spends the rest of his life in prison. or under a travel ban.
Mr. Almuzhaini, a dual US-Saudi citizen and father of three, recently described his plight in a video urging the Saudi leadership to intervene, saying he was awaiting a final ruling from the kingdom’s highest court.
“I can bear the consequences of what happens after this, and I’m ready,” he said in the 18-minute video, which he said he was filming at his home in the Saudi capital.
The video was published on his social media accounts late last month and was deleted the same day. In it, Mr. Almuzaini, sporting a black beard at the edges, spoke in front of a wall covered in colorful sticky notes.
“I have not committed a single crime in the state,” he said. “I didn’t even run a red light.”
Saudi authorities have imprisoned hundreds of citizens during a crackdown on dissent that began in 2017. Still, Mr. Almuzhaini’s video was shocking because he appeared clearly in the good graces of the Saudi leadership — attending and receiving government-sponsored events. Glowing texts In state supported Media outlets. Despite facing serious charges, he was not jailed, although he was banned from leaving the country.
His story is the best example yet of the duality of the new Saudi Arabia, as 38-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman opens up the kingdom socially while deepening political repression. In Mr. Almuzhaini’s case, those two trends have emerged simultaneously, revealing a profound dissonance at the heart of the empire’s transformation.
The New York Times was able to verify that the trial took place at Riyadh’s Specialized Criminal Court, where Mr. Almuzhaini was convicted last year of espousing extremist ideology, among other charges. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison, followed by a 13-year ban on traveling outside Saudi Arabia. An appeals court this year upheld his conviction and prison sentence, while extending his travel ban to 30 years.
The Saudi government’s Center for International Communication did not respond to a request for comment. Mr. Almuzhaini did not respond to a request for an interview. His lawyer could not be reached. Netflix declined to comment.
The American State Department said in a statement to The Times that it was monitoring Mr. Almuzzaini’s case, adding, “Our embassies and consulates want to ensure that US citizens abroad are subject to a fair and transparent legal process.”
Prosecutors’ charges were linked to television content produced by Mr Almuzhaini and social media posts he wrote a decade ago, when the space for public discourse was less restricted in Saudi Arabia.
“I never thought it would reach this stage,” Mr Almuzhaini said in his video. “Especially given that there are people and officials – whom I am grateful but will not name – who assured me that this issue was not worth all this and to be patient and it would be resolved bureaucratically.”
Since Prince Mohammed’s rise to power, which began in 2015, he has significantly loosened social restrictions in Saudi Arabia – ending a ban on women driving, discrediting the religious police and investing heavily in new sectors such as entertainment and tourism. He has also presided over a broad political crackdown, which culminated in the 2018 assassination by Saudi agents in Istanbul of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi – a columnist who wrote critically about the monarchy in The Washington Post.
Prince Mohammed’s advisers and supporters sometimes argue that an iron fist is necessary to steer the kingdom through a time of tumultuous change. But Mr. Almuzhaini’s case, among others like him, raises questions about how he wants to nurture the arts, creativity and entrepreneurship — key elements of the prince’s plans — while curtailing freedom of expression.
“Masamir” made its debut on YouTube more than a decade ago when movie theaters were effectively banned and filmmaking was largely an underground endeavor.
Through deliberately absurd plots, the show — goofy, dark and sometimes mischievous — critiques aspects of life in the conservative Islamic state.
in A visit in 2017“We try to make fun of many social issues, from the way the government works to the way certain beliefs are spread in society,” said the show’s co-creator, Malik Najer.
“We even make fun of ourselves sometimes,” he added.
From its early years, the ideology of “Masamir” was socially liberal, with story lines mocking classism, discrimination against women, and the religious restrictions that heavily defined life in Saudi Arabia at the time.
During the country’s rapid transformation under Prince Mohammed, the government appeared to embrace Mr. Almuzhaini’s work, even as he faced trial.
Last year, after he was convicted and sentenced, he Attended a party Held by state institutions where officials honored Saudi creators. From 2021, Riyadh Boulevard – a government-run entertainment complex in the state capital – hosts events and theme park rides designed around “Masamir” characters. And a few months ago, as he continued to appeal the rulings, Mr. Almuzhaini was hosted on a Saudi state television show to discuss the kingdom’s film industry.
The episode celebrated the dissemination of Saudi content to an international audience Voice-over announcement“We will tell our own stories, ourselves, and export our narrative to the world.”
Multiple television series and two movies from the “Masamir” franchise are still available on Netflix in Saudi Arabia. Mr. Almuzhaini’s animation studio, Myrkot, is part of a five-year partnership with the streaming service, signed in 2020.
According to Mr. Almuzhaini’s video, some of the charges he faced were related to an episode of the spinoff Netflix-hosted show “Massamir County,” released in 2021.
The episode tells the story of a rich, burly and lonely man named Bandar who develops a late-night craving for ice cream. He goes in search of it, only to be beaten, dumped in the desert and picked up by a mob of jihadists. He joins the Islamic State terrorist group, and at the episode’s conclusion, he blows up a helicopter, which leads him into a dreamlike scene where he receives a glorious ice cream cone.
The episode is openly offensive to jihadists, portraying Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who died in 2019, as a sleazy man with a harem of women.
But the Saudi officials pursuing Mr. Almuzhaini interpreted that to mean that “if you go and fight the Islamic State and you die like the port in the ice cream episode, you will go to heaven,” Mr. Almuzhaini said in his video. “I don’t know how they read it that way.”
In the video, Mr. Almuzzaini pleaded for Prince Mohammed’s help, saying he sought to resolve his case through several avenues before going public.
Mr. Almuzhaini’s problems began in 2021, when an official from the Saudi Media Authority began investigating him and his animation studio for regulatory violations that included “supporting terrorism and homosexuality,” Mr. Almuzhaini said in the video.
What was initially a regulatory issue turned into a criminal trial. In addition to complaints about “Masamir” content, prosecutors cited social media posts that Mr. Almuzhaini made between 2010 and 2014, he said in the video.
Mr. Almuzhaini concludes the video by saying that he recently had to close his animation studio and let go of its employees. But he still believes in a “sensible government” in the state and is confident that he will get his rights, he added.
After the video was deleted, Mr. Almuzaini appeared to be free. He continued Post on social mediaincluding Tuesday.
inside Another videoPosted on Sunday, Mr Almuzhaini stressed his loyalty to the Saudi kingdom and its rulers, adding that he did not want to go anywhere else.
“I will live in this country,” he said. “And God willing, I will die in this country.”