# Saudi Arabia

Government actions against journalists in Saudi Arabia

[RSF 2026 rank: 176th of 180](https://rsf.org/en/index). World Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders (RSF); rank 1 is the freest.

The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.

Saudi Arabia is in Western Asia, Asia. The record holds 1 incident in which the government of Saudi Arabia, or an official, court or legislature there, limited journalists' ability to report.

## Tactics used

- [Detention and violence: 1](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents?country=SA&tactic=detention_and_violence), ladder: https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/detention_and_violence

## Heads of government at the time

- [Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud: 1 incident](https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/king-salman)

## Incidents by year

### 2018

| Date | Incident | Tactic | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| October 2, 2018 | [Saudi Arabia's government kills journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside its Istanbul consulate](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2018-saudi-arabia-khashoggi-killed-consulate) | [Detention and violence](https://thewaronnews.com/tactics/detention_and_violence) | Eliminate | [Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud](https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/king-salman) | Unknown |

Ladders: https://thewaronnews.com/ladders. Timeline: https://thewaronnews.com/timeline/country/sa.

Download incidents in Saudi Arabia. CSV, JSON or Markdown. CC BY 4.0; credit "The War On News, thewaronnews.com".
- CSV: https://thewaronnews.com/countries/sa?format=csv
- JSON: https://thewaronnews.com/countries/sa.json
- Markdown: https://thewaronnews.com/countries/sa.md

Source page: https://thewaronnews.com/countries/sa. The War On News, CC BY 4.0.