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A Saudi man explores a website on his laptop in Riyadh | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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A Saudi man explores a website on his laptop in Riyadh February 11, 2014. Syria’s civil war has led to a new, greater threat of Islamist radicalism in Saudi Arabia that requires a more aggressive “war of ideology” on the Internet, says the man responsible for online monitoring in the kingdom. Remarks by the head of the Saudi Ideological Security Directorate (ISD) suggest that the unit, known for keeping tabs on liberal activists and women drivers as well as Islamist extremists, is turning its focus increasingly towards those using the Internet to recruit fighters for jihad abroad. From an office near a firing range in a police academy in Riyadh, the ISD keeps tabs on “anything that might influence the stability of Saudi Arabia,” said its director, Abdulrahman al-Hadlaq. Picture taken February 11, 2014. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser (SAUDI ARABIA – Tags: POLITICS SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY)