The
Arabic-language WP has a reputation for political craziness. It also doesn't help that Arabic comes in several regional dialects that are quite different from each other, so text posted by an Iraqi will be difficult for someone in Syria or Egypt to read. Not many people outside the Middle East have any idea what's going on there thanks to a high language barrier. Chances are, the WMF has ONE staffer (if any!) who can read it, and has to rely on them to watch the mess unfold. Those governments tend to squabble so there's even more reason to "heel" WP content using spies.
That Guardian story is classic stupid-journalist cant. I suspect whichever AFP reporter wrote this
has no idea that WP admins are NOT paid "staff" and get no compensation or support whatsoever--other than the "pleasure" of being able to abuse random editors with near impunity. I also fully expect the WMF will do a bit of deploring and hand-wringing and (maybe) they will put out another sappy press release. And do nothing else. I suspect these "staffers" will spend many years of abuse in a brutal Saudi prison, until the KSA backs off after further protests and releases them. One expects no less from the bin Salman regime.
The KSA has been paranoid, repressive and religiously conservative since it began 100 years ago. Under bin Salman, it's reaching new heights of abuse and repression. He has built large prisons for the primary purpose of holding political dissidents and his opponents. And the two admins stand a good chance of being murdered or "suicided" in prison "for no apparent reason".
The Signpost
mentioned the banninations of the Saudi "wiki-spies" on January 1st. THAT outrages them. People (that they don't like) fucking with content is a Terrible Crime. The arrest of the two admins happened in 2020 and was NEVER mentioned in "official WMF channels" that I can find. It did not "outrage" the sweet and loving Wikipedians sufficiently. Otherwise, it's DENY DENY DENY day and night.
Also, where were the Wiki-Bastards and where was their outrage, when Wiki-Bilim was being used by the Kazakh government to control the contents of the Kazakh Wikipedia? Oh, well, that's DIFFERENT. Jimmy Wales LIKED them. So they were "protected".
This will not cause Wikipedia "start to unravel". It has been SOP for more than 20 years. You could literally line up admins in front of the WMF offices at high noon and execute them with gunshots to the head---and I expect the WMF employees would go "that's awful, call someone and get the mess cleaned up, where shall we lunch today?"