Is the Hidden Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ready to open to the World? | Foreign Correspondent

The ‘hidden kingdom’ of Saudi Arabia has been mostly closed to journalists and travellers…until now.

In a glitzy PR push, the country wants to promote itself as a tourist destination. Foreign Correspondent rides the magic carpet to extraordinary sites, thousands of years old, holding mysteries archaeologists are just beginning to uncover.

It’s part of a multi-billion-dollar campaign by leader Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, to modernise the economy, diversify it away from oil dependency, and liberalise the austere, puritanical form of Islam that’s locked up the country for decades.

But will the notoriously repressive regime deliver on its promise to reform? Reporter Sam Hawley witnesses the social revolution underway, speaking with a woman uber driver, a woman scuba instructor and one of the nation’s first stand-up comedians.

The comedian explains he must operate within unwritten laws.

“We can’t go to the red lines… even if one day the government says it's okay to talk about this and that. Okay, go talk about sex, religion, whatever ’, he says. ‘If you speak about it, people won't feel comfortable. ”

But the dark side of the regime remains.

Foreign Correspondent gains a rare interview with Hatice Cengiz, the fiancé of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Kashoggi. His brutal dismemberment by a Saudi hit squad shocked the world and still stains the country’s international reputation.

A year on, Hatice Cengiz says she lives in fear and that the world has failed to hold the Saudi government to account for the brutal killing.

Sam Hawley charts the broad clampdown on dissent and speaks with some of the country’s critics, including a Saudi prince who lives outside the country under police protection and claims he is the victim of a state-sponsored kidnap attempt.

“There are no political reforms ” , says the prince, now living overseas . “ There is no separation of powers and there is a dominance by the religious authorities over other branches of power in the state.”

Read more here: https://ab.co/3a5hUKm

About Foreign Correspondent:
Foreign Correspondent is the prime-time international public affairs program on Australia's national broadcaster, ABC-TV. We produce half-hour duration in-depth reports for broadcast across the ABC's television channels and digital platforms. Since 1992, our teams have journeyed to more than 170 countries to report on war, natural calamity and social and political upheaval – through the eyes of the people at the heart of it all.
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