Saad al-Fagih is a man with a mission and a radio station. Everyday, from a modest back room studio in London, he broadcasts his call for democratic reform and human rights to millions of households in Saudi Arabia. And it’s making the Saudi royal family very nervous, so nervous that they called on the country’s most senior religious leader to denounce the radio station’s call to protest.
Saad al-Fagih is himself from a prominent Saudi family, but he was forced to leave home and seek asylum in London after being jailed for his political efforts. Now he and his team are penetrating the carefully censored Saudi media with a satellite radio signal that is broadcasting critical voices back to the Kingdom. Tuning in dissent and civil disobedience discourse in Saudi Arabia.
Guests:
Saad al-Fagih, founder of Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia
Greg Gause , director of the Middle Eastern Studies program at the University of Vermont.