Narrator and the kingdom at a crossroads. Saudi arabia is facing some of the Biggest Challenges its ever faced. The oil price is low, youth unemployment, regional instability. You could almost argue a perfect storm. Narrator tonight, saudi arabia uncovered. Frontlinis made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Major support for frontliis provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information is available at macfound. Org. Additional support is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. The john and Helen Glessner family trust, supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. The ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide, at fordfoundation. Org. The wyncote foundation. And by the frontline journalism fund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler. translated in saudi, they say, be careful. The walls have ears. The walls have ears. Fear has taken over the entire population, from the elderly to young children. The regime wants to keep everything secret. If the truth comes out, it will be the beginning of the end for them. No one can express themselves freely. Narrator yasser is a young saudi dissident and activist. He belongs to an underground network that films and publishes videos of life in saudi arabia the government doesnt want the world to see. Now hes come to istanbul to collect an undercover camera. For the next six months, he and his fellow activists will be filming secretly. If caught, they could face years in prison. Weve disguised yassers voice for his safety. translated yes, there is danger, but the world needs to see how weve been living under persecution and slavery for decades. I will do what i need to do and try to show the awful reality to the world, and whatever will be will be. Narrator this is the story of the men and women who are trying to force change in saudi arabia, and the regime that is trying to stop them. Yasser lands in the capital of riyadh a bustling, modern city of more than six million people. Saudi arabia is a key u. S. Ally in the middle east, and the Worlds Largest oil exporter. Its state oil company is worth an estimated 10 trillion. The face of the new king, salman, looms large over the streets. A single family, the house of saud, has ruled the country since its founding. They subscribe to a strict form of the sunni branch of islam, and the country is run according to sharia law. The royal family and their inner circle are among the wealthiest people in the world. Yasser films an avenue of palaces. This is the saudi arabia the world usually sees a country of wealth and luxury shopping malls. But the global crash in oil prices has hit the saudi economy hard. Narrator although the saudi government has spent billions on social welfare, as much as a quarter of the population is estimated to live in poverty a reality rarely seen. translated im going to show you how people live here. Narrator yasser brings his hidden camera to a slum on the edge of the holy city of mecca. translated people are living in real misery here. Children selling things. Oh, my god. Look, its a dump. Look at the sewage. The way money is spread, its kept among the ruling family. Its not spread to the people. Only whats left, the crumbs, are spread to the people. So theres great inequality between the classes. Narrator much of saudi arabias wealth comes from oil fields in the east of the country, home to the shia muslim minority. One of yassers fellow activists is filming here. The east has not seen the oil riches like other parts of the kingdom. It is the heartland of opposition to the regime. It was here, five years ago, that the underground network was born. protestors shouting narrator as the arab spring sparked revolutions in countries across the middle east, protests erupted in the regional capital, qatif. A young cameraman, ali filfil, began filming the governments response. gunshots gunshots continue narrator the shia were protesting discrimination by the sunni majority and demanding recognition of their rights. Some of the protestors were armed and violent. The government saw them as a threat to national security. rapid gunfire the cameraman, ali filfil, came under fire. Narrator ali filfil was shot in the chest. He was one of roughly 20 protess and several Police Killed over the months that followed. translated filfil was just trying to get the message out. He sacrificed his life for that. His death was the spark that lit the fire. Narrator after the deaths, the demonstrations escalated, with thousands of shia hitting the streets. One of them was 17yearold ali nimr. He was outraged at the deaths of the protestors. Narrator ali used his cell phone to record himself confronting police near his house. translated ali is an arab boy, like any other arab boy. He dreams of freedom. He dreams of respect, dignity. Narrator despite being warned not to talk to the media, alis parents decided to speak about their son. translated ali went out to protest for human rights. They were meant to be peaceful demonstrations. He was just a 17yearold asking for social reform. Narrator but ali wasnt just an ordinary protester. He was the nephew of Sheikh Nimr Alnimr, widely seen as the spiritual leader of the shia uprising. Narrator for the saudi government, sheikh nimr was a dangerous shia revolutionary, with ties to their archenemy iran, inciting his shia followers at demonstrations. translated my brother sheikh nimr became an icon. Thats the reality. He had a big effect on a whole generation of young people. This might not please some people in power in our country, but that is the bitter truth. Narrator sheikh nimr tapped into resentment among the youth in the east of saudi arabia. But now, protests began to spring up across the country as discontented sunnis also took to the streets. For activists like yasser, who is sunni, it felt like the moment they had been waiting for. translated we all really felt that the time had come when wed be done with the tyranny that has ruled for decades. We felt victory was within our grasp. So it was a big disappointment after all wed done. It was frustrating, shameful, and very sad. Narrator in 2012, saudi authorities cracked down hard, rounding up protestors. Sheikh nimr was arrested and charged with treason. So was his nephew, ali. translated ali called from riyadh prison, and he asked me about something that was written in the court papers. Hed been charged with sedition and treason. Ali is a young child. He asked me, dad, what does that mean . Ali asked me, what is treason, dad . Narrator a saudi court convicted him of organizing protests by text message and participating in a terror cell. He was sentenced to death. His family says he was tortured into confessing. translated him being part of a terrorist organization is very far from what ali believes in. Its very far from that. They are only asking for reform. translated the sentence really shocked me. I didnt expect the judge would dare sentence a young boy in that way. translated the regime has no right to execute them. They are sentenced with this because they want to crush any groups that ask for reform in the country. Here is my son ali at Nursery School with the rest of his class. These are the last pictures i have of him before he was arrested. Narrator saudi officials publicly defended the arrests, saying sheikh nimr was inciting terror and attempting to overthrow the government. Our response is that hes a terrorist. He is as much a religious scholar as Osama Bin Laden was. He was implicated in inciting people, recruiting people, providing weapons and munitions for people, and he was involved in attacks against security peo. translated ali was used as an instrument of pressure when it comes to sheikh nimrs case. Even if these charges were proved against ali, they dont deserve an execution. This is of course to put pressure on his uncle sheikh nimr nimr. Narrator ali joined three other teenage protesters on death row. translated i might find out at any moment, while listening to the radio or television, hear an announcement about his death from the ministry of interior. We wont know in any other way. It could happen at any moment. Narrator the popular uprisi. That ali had been part of was stopped by late 2012. The king at the time, abdullah, had introduced program of reforms that was widely seen as a way to appease the population. From a saudi point of view, d with the arab spring and with other countries, and the government is certainly intent on maintaining stability. My analysis of why the saudi government didnt fall is theyre a lot more responsive to their people than the mubarak regime ever was, or gaddafi, or assad. They dont have a Traditional Democratic system and theyre not very tolerant of dissent, but they do listen. They listen and then respond. Narrator King Abdullah introduced welfare handouts of more than 100 billion, some social reform, and Employment Opportunities for the poor. At the same time, the regime stepped up its use of strict sharia law to control the population. Narrator in saudi arabia, executions can be carried out publicly with one sword blow to the neck. The underground network tries to distribute videos of public punishments caught on camera. This burmese woman was convicted of sexually assaulting and killing her stepdaughter. screaming narrator headless bodies are sometimes put on display as a warning. The saudi government says that only the most serious criminals are executed, and punishments are carried out according to sharia law. Since the arab spring, saudi arabia i think is undergoing an identity crisis. On the one hand, they are talking about a change in the economy of saudi arabia and genuine political reform. But saudi arabia last year, in 2015, executed more people than ever in recent memory, and the judiciary and the legal system are basically an arm of the regime to institute its policy against dissent. translated the regime basically shuts down the opposition. It imprisons them. It attacks them. I dont think this is islam. All the people are angry, but the problem is they cant speak. Everyone is scared of being imprisoned. Narrator when Activists Campaign publicly for change in saudi arabia, they risk arrest as heretics or terrorists. Narrator hala dosari, who worked for the ministry of health, began to post video messages pushing for reform. She has now left saudi arabia. In saudi arabia, criticizing the government, criticizing religious people are considered as acts of terror. People are reporting on each other, targeting their fellow citizens. So everyone becomes more religious than ever, everybody becomes more progovernment than ever. So were going into a fascist society. Narrator inside one of saudi arabias upscale shopping malls, yasser films the men who enforce the countrys islamic laws the saudi religious police. Dressed in traditional islamic clothing, they patrol the streets and shopping malls. Their official title is the committee for the promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice. Activists have been filming and sharing videos to expose their practices, and to show ordinary saudis standing up to them. Narrator they force women to cover themselves and drive people out of cafes to go and pray. These rules are based on a strict form of sunni islam known as wahhabism. It is the religion on which saudi arabia was founded. Here, the religious police are smashing bottles of alcohol theyve confiscated. Narrator the religious police break up groups of young people playing music in public. But yasser films his friends heading to a park to play the lute. translated theyre warning us, telling him if they see him play, there will be trouble. For me, music is my passion. Its a dream for me to play. But to them, its immoral. Its a vice. Its a disgrace. It doesnt just come from the regime, but now others have started to believe this too. Narrator in recent years, the saudi government has made efforts to rein in the religious police, but they still have wide authority and act with autonomy. Yasser and his friends have been here for less than five minutes when the religious police show up. This was the last shot recorded before yasser and his friend say they were assaulted. translated they broke my finger today. They even smashed the lute. man singing hymn narrator all saudis are expected to attend mosque every friday. Yasser secretly films a clerics sermon. Narrator the state wahhabi ideology is taught to saudi children from an early age. Yasser films a 14yearold boy who shows him the books they use at his school. Narrator saudi arabia says it has made progress reforming its textbooks, removing the worst examples of prejudice. But opposition activists, especially those from the shia community, see religious education as another way the regime controls the population. The saudi Education System has been intended as an insurance policy, as a security measure to protect the ruling family. And to mislead the millions of students into hatred of other religions, other cultures, and toward the saudi ruling family. Narrator despite promises of reform, the saudi rulers have also tied themselves to the powerful conservative clerics who are supported by much of the population. In 2012, one secular activist publicly criticized the relationship between the rulers and the clerics. Narrator raif badawi wrote a blog on which he promoted liberal values, and questioned the role of religion in saudi life. Narrator badawi, a father of three young children, was arrested in 2012 and sentenced to ten years in prison and 1,000 lashes for insulting islam. translated this is the square where they flogged the brother raif badawi. Narrator yasser films the square in the city of jeddah, where raif was lashed in public in january 2015. The lashing was secretly filmed by an activist. translated i believe that raif has been true to himself. I have a lot of respect for him. He didnt carry arms. He didnt kill anyone. He didnt blow anything up. All he did was express an opinion. Narrator raif has spent most of his sentence in one of saudi arabias most notorious prisons, breiman. The underground Network Managed to smuggle cameras into breiman. What they found was chaos and lawlessness, and prisoners openly injecting heroin. Narrator here, a prisoner is abused by his fellow inmates. Narrator raif badawi spent almost four years locked up here. His lawyer and dozens of other activists are also serving long jail sentences. men shouting and cheering narrator thousands of miles away, his wife ensaf and three children have received asylum. The escaped saudi arabia after receiving death threats. They havent seen their father for four years. Narrator the family says they have only received rare phone calls from raif since hes been imprisoned. Ensaf runs a campaign for her husbands release and is trying to keep her childrens spirits up. translated although hes in jail, its as if were all serving the sentence. The most valuable thing in our life is not with us. Its been four years since the children have seen their father. Its very difficult. Its so hard, but we have to carry on. Narrator ensaf says shes counting on raifs case being reviewed by the saudi courts. translated honestly, i am always hopeful. This christmas, i hope he will be with us, but i just dont know. I have never received any good news from saudi arabia. Narrator in january 2015, two weeks after raif badawi was lashed in public, the saudi ruler King Abdullah died. His halfbrother, 79yearold salman, came to the throne. Salman was the sixth son of saudi arabias founder, ibn saud, to become king. The world was watching to see if he would continue the reforms begun in the wake of the arab spring. King salman is probably the last of the sons of al saud to be king, so youve got that generational succession happening at a time when there are unprecedented challenges both internally and externally. One of the dilemmas in saudi arabia is you have lots of competing views. Theres a kind of liberal elite who want the right conditions for business. Theres a conservative islamic tendency who doesnt want as much engagement with the west as saudi has. There are women who want more rights, there are conservative women who dont. So its part of a very complex situation in saudi arabia, but its not standing still. Saudi arabia isnt standing still. The argument is about the pace of change. Narrator before he died, king salmans brother had promised that women would be able to vote and stand in local elections. The new king had to decide whether to follow through on this promise and ease up on the many restrictions women face in their everyday life. Women are banned from driving and are often prevented from traveling and going to the doctors without a male guardian. Activists have been sharing vids like this of public violence against women to raise awareness of this issue. Saudi officials have said they dont condone such violence and take these incidents seriously. Violence is a symptom of the position of women in a society because it reflects how people view the roles of women. This is a tribal society, and its been kept this way. The philosophy of the government is to keep the control of the man or the power of the father, basically, so violence is used as a disciplinary way or a controlling way. Narrator there have recent legal advances in protecting the rights of women, but violence still occurs. In this video, after being whipped in public, the women turn on their attackers. Increasingly, women are fighting back. Loujain hathloul is one of saudi arabias most prominent women activists. She has been campaigning to overturn the ban against women driving. In late 2014, she uploaded a video of herself trying to drive into saudi arabia from the neighboring united arab emirates. Narrator moments after this was filmed, loujain was arrested trying to enter saudi arabia. Her case was referred to a terrorism court, and she was imprisoned for 73 days without trial before being released. Shes spent months banned from traveling outside saudi arabia. Ive been threatened since the beginning. My car was broken. I almost got beaten up just because of the campaign. People wrote me letters on facebook and sent me all sorts of weapon pictures, saying that if i continue, ill be murdered, or my family harmed. Narrator loujains campaign sparked a debate inside saudi arabia. To some women, she became a hero; to the more conservative elements, a hate figure. I try to represent their rights. Some of them dont believe that its their own rights. They refuse it, they reject it. But i believe that they are imprisoned in their old ways and their old mindset, or they just fear freedom. Narrator there is a Gr