The Washington Post reports:

The mysterious disappearance last month of a Saudi dissident living in Montreal after visiting the kingdom’s embassy in Ottawa has sent fear rippling across Canada’s community of Saudi exiles.

While the gravest concerns were allayed when Ahmed Abdullah al-Harbi, 24, reappeared last week in Saudi Arabia, his fellow activists suspect he was coerced to return to the kingdom and are afraid he is providing Saudi authorities with information that jeopardizes them and their families.

These fears are most acute among Saudi activists who have tried to keep a low profile and avoid attracting unwanted attention from the Saudi government.

“They’re normal people from Saudi Arabia who left Saudi Arabia and disappeared out of sight,” said one dissident in Canada, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, fearing retribution by Saudi authorities. “But now, they’re exposed. Ahmed revealed their names. And they’re worried they’re going to be targeted, that at any moment something will happen.”

In recent years, Saudi authorities have repeatedly tried to intimidate critics living abroad, pressured their relatives who remain in the kingdom, and in some instances abducted dissidents and repatriated them to Saudi Arabia. [Continue reading…]