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This Article is From Mar 07, 2015

Mystery Saudi Tweeter's Account 'Suspended'

Mystery Saudi Tweeter's Account 'Suspended'
Representational image.
Dubai:

Twitter appeared on Friday to have suspended the account of a mysterious user with more than one million followers who tweeted comments about the Saudi royal family and other topics.

Users trying to view his profile get a message saying, "@mujtahidd has been suspended".

Some of his information was false but at other times it proved to be accurate, such as his report of King Abdullah's death hours before the royal court made an official statement on January 23.

Abdullah was replaced by his half-brother Salman who named his son, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as defence chief, head of the royal court and special adviser.

@mujtahidd had tweeted that Prince Mohammed is only 27 years old, according to foreignpolicy.com magazine.

That tweet, like others by @mujtahidd, can no longer be accessed.

Some users on Thursday retweeted comments from @mujtahidd saying his account was temporarily suspended after he posted a letter to do with a foreign maid who was "harmed".

According to the retweets, he said the account was then reactivated. It has since been suspended again.

Twitter use is widespread in Saudi Arabia, where even King Salman has an account. Official media are tightly controlled, however.

Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based watchdog, last year named Saudi Arabia as one of 19 countries where government agencies are "enemies of the Internet" for their censorship and surveillance.

Twitter users had their own theories about what happened to @mujtahidd.

"Closing of mujtahidd's account is not because of his tweets. And for sure if the country knows who he is and who is feeding him the information... if it wanted it could have stopped mujtahidd from day one," a user wrote.

Others accused him of supporting "terrorist organisations".

Mujtahidd did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent to an email address that was listed with his suspended account.

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