Mariah Carey slammed by women's rights activists for Saudi Arabia performance

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Women's rights activists ask Mariah Carey not to perform for Saudi Arabia

Mariah Carey is scheduled to perform in Saudi Arabia but women’s rights activists are urging her to pull out in support of the prominent Saudi women's rights activists imprisoned since May who had long campaigned for social changes and women's empowerment.

Mariah Carey may want to follow her own advice and proceed with caution when it comes to performing in oppressive regimes, activists advise.

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The iconic songbird will perform in Saudi Arabia on Thursday for the first time, outraging women's rights activists who want her to pull out in support of detained women in the country.

The Associated Press reports that Carey, 48, is the biggest start to perform in Saudi Arabia since the notoriously conservative country loosened their strict entertainment restrictions, but activists claim Carey's show is an effort from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to improve the kingdom's reputation after the Oct. 2 murder of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

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Reps for the singer told The Associated Press in a statement that when the "Hero" singer was "presented with the offer to perform for an international and mixed gender audience in Saudi Arabia, Mariah accepted the opportunity as a positive step towards the dissolution of gender segregation."

"As the first female international artist to perform in Saudi Arabia, Mariah recognizes the cultural significance of this event and will continue to support global efforts towards equality for all," the statement continued.

In December, Saudi Arabia hosted a Formula-E car race in Riyadh that featured concerts by Enrique Iglesias, The Black Eyed Peas and DJ David Guetta.

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Omaima Al-Najjar, a Saudi woman who fled the kingdom to seek political refuge abroad, said that the concerts are a diversion from the Saudi-led war in Yemen against the neighboring country's Houthi rebels, human rights abuses committed under the crown prince and repressive male guardianship laws that restrict women's freedoms.

"The Saudi government is using entertainment to distract the people from human rights abuses because it can sense the anger among the public," she said.

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Al-Najjar is a co-founder of Women for Rights in Saudi Arabia, or WARSA, which launched a petition calling on Carey to boycott the country. The petition aimed to publicly pressure Carey because "she has power to stand for women ... as an artist and as a female," Al-Najjar said.

Activists are tweeting at Carey directly, urging her to take notice of the prominent Saudi women's rights activists imprisoned since May who had long campaigned for social changes and women's empowerment. The women, who include activists in their 20s as well as mothers, grandmothers and retired professors, have been accused of vague national security violations in connection to their human rights work.

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Al-Najjar said artists like Carey should make their performances in Saudi Arabia conditional on the release of the women's rights activists. A boycott would not impact ordinary Saudis because many cannot afford the concert's ticket prices anyway, she said.

Tickets for Carey's concert start at around $80, and VIP seats — already sold out — cost $530. The average monthly wage for Saudis is around $2,600, according to the General Authority for Statistics.

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Alia al-Hathloul called on Mariah Carey to remember her sister, Loujain al-Hathloul, who she says has been abused and threatened with death while in detention because of her activism, which included defying the kingdom's ban on women driving before it was lifted last year.

"Remember, thanks to my sister @LoujainHathloul, you r able to perform in Saudi Arabia. I wish she can attend your concert. But she's locked behind bars because she tried to improve women's condition. Don' forget to thank her on stage," she wrote to Carey on Twitter.

Saudi female artist Ms Saffaa wrote on Twitter: "Will @MariahCarey be singing 'It's a long road when u face the world alone. No one reaches out a hand 4 u 2 hold' to imprisoned female #Saudi activists @LoujainHathloul, @Saudiwoman, & @azizayousef?"

Both women, as well as Al-Najjar and others, made their pleas from abroad, where they do not face the prospect of arrest for speaking out.

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Carey and DJ Tiesto will perform in the gated King Abdullah Economic City, a two-hour drive north of Islam holy site Mecca, which  can only be entered with permission from security. Despite the two-hour commute to the city from Mecca, some on Twitter expressed ire at its proximity to the region.

However, others defended Carey, pointing out that many Saudi Arabian fans had never gotten the opportunity to see her or any other artist of her caliber perform before:

The General Entertainment Authority's online flyer for Carey's concert shows her only from the waist up, with a red scarf draped over her arms. Women in Saudi Arabia are required to wear loose, long black robes known as abayas in public. Most Saudi women also cover their hair and face.

Still, a concert like this would have been unthinkable until recently. Religious police used to enforce strict gender segregation, scolded women for not covering their hair and barged into restaurants to demand music be turned off.

The changes have a powerful backer in the crown prince, who is seeking to boost domestic spending and draw attention to his reforms.

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Efforts to brand him a reformer took a hit after Saudi agents close to the crown prince killed and dismembered Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who was critical of the prince's crackdown on dissent. The U.S. Senate and U.S. intelligence have blamed the crown prince for the killing, but Saudi Arabia insists he had no involvement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.