Campaign group Human Rights Watch has called on comedians playing the controversial Riyadh Comedy Festival to call on the Saudi authorities to free unjustly detained dissidents, journalists and human rights activists.

As Chortle reported earlier this month, Jimmy Carr, Omid Djalili, Jack Whitehall and Jimeoin are among the international acts heading to the Gulf state from Friday.

The pressure group says the  Saudi government is using the event ‘to deflect attention from its brutal repression of free speech and other pervasive human rights violations.’

It wrote to the representatives of the comics taking part to request a meeting about Saudi Arabia’s human rights crisis but said none replied. 

And it pointed out that the festival coincides with the seventh anniversary of the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi  at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018 by Saudi government agents at the behest of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Joey Shea, Saudi Arabia researcher at Human Rights Watch, said:  ‘The seventh anniversary of Jamal Khashoggi’s brutal murder is no laughing matter, and comedians receiving hefty sums from Saudi authorities shouldn’t be silent on prohibited topics in Saudi like human rights or free speech.

‘Comedians performing in Riyadh should speak out against Saudi Arabia’s serious rights abuses or they risk bolstering the Saudi government’s well-funded efforts to launder its image.

‘This whitewashing comes amid significant increase in repression, including a crackdown on free speech, which many of these comedians defend but people in Saudi Arabia are completely denied.’

The festival line-up also includes the likes of Aziz Ansari, Hannibal Buress, Bill Burr, Dave Chappelle, Pete Davidson, Maz Jobrani, Russell Peters and Kevin Hart.

Tim Dillon was scheduled to perform but said he was fired after he joked on his podcast about Saudi Arabia’s poor human rights record.

He had said that he was being paid $375,000 (£278,000) for one show on October 8, but that other performers were offered as much as $1.6million (£1.2million)

Dillon said on his podcast: ‘I am doing this because they are paying me a large sum of money. They are paying me enough money to look the other way.

‘They bought comedy. Do I have issues with the policies towards freedom of speech? Of course I do, but I believe in my own financial wellbeing.’

Last week Dillon announced that his performance had been canceled after Saudi authorities were allegedly ‘unhappy’ about his remarks on the treatment of migrant workers and other human rights issues. 

‘I addressed it in a funny way and they fired me,’ he said. ‘I certainly wasn’t going to show up in your country and insult the people that are paying me the money. But on my own show, in my own country, where I have the freedom to speak and say the things I want, I am going to be funny.’

Human Rights Watch urged the comedians in particular to publicly call for the release of the human rights actvist Waleed Abu al-Khair, who is serving a 15-year prison sentence, and Manahel al-Otaibi, awomen’s rights activist sentenced to 11 years in prison – recently reduced to 5 years – for promoting women’s rights online. 

They also highlighted the cases of Turki al-Jasser, a prominent Saudi writer and journalist executed for ill-defined ‘terrorist crimes’ on June 14, and Abdullah al-Shamri, a Saudi political analyst, executed in February last year.

Neither Jimeoin, Whitehall or Carr – who is sharing a bill in Riyadh with Louis CK – have listed their Saudi dates on their websites (although Whitehall has no live appearances at all listed) and none have commented on their booking.

Djalili does list the gig and previously joked about his appearance on X: ‘Naturally a little nervous as the Saudis remove any image with nudity in your possession before coming into the country. Word is Louis CK is at the airport right now having his retinas removed.’

He has called out American right-wingers for celebrating the suspension of Jimmy Kimmmel calling it a ‘power flex by the current American administration and advancing Republican culture war priorities’ and ‘utterly trampling on the first amendment’ that guarantees the right to free speech.

Saudi leader Mohammed bin Salman’s creation of an entertainment industry has been adopted alongside advancements for women and youth. 

Human Rights Watch say: ‘While extensive and important, these changes have also helped obscure the dramatic curtailing of civil and political rights since he became crown prince in 2017. 

‘While the emerging entertainment industry was being lauded internationally, Saudi authorities were simultaneously carrying out waves of arbitrary arrests of dissidents, activists, intellectuals, and royal family members.’

The other comedians taking part are Andrew Schulz, Andrew Santino & Bobby Lee, Chris Tucker, Gabriel Iglesias, Jessica Kirson, Jo Koy,  Mark Normand, Nimesh Patel, Sam Morril, Sebastian Maniscalco, Tom Segura, Whitney Cummings, Zarna Garg.