ISIS supporters online have been urging followers to attack Mariah Carey’s upcoming concert Thursday night in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The threats come as women’s rights activists have been urging the pop singer to cancel the event in protest over the Saudi regime jailing human rights advocates and oppressing women.
According to the Arab News, Carey’s first performance in the kingdom at King Abdullah Economic City is linked to the inaugural Saudi International golf tournament.
She’ll be joining performers Dutch DJ Tiesto, Yemeni-Emirati singer Balqees Fathi and Jamaican rapper Sean Paul.
Dear @MariahCarey, I hear you’re planning on performing in #Saudi Arabia: are you aware that women’s rights activists have been detained without charge since May 2018 & tortured at the orders of Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman? https://t.co/NqbRBlYpR4
— Mona Eltahawy (@monaeltahawy) January 26, 2019
Though the Carey concert threat is centered around the regime being seen as letting un-Islamic events take place, ISIS supporters have also touted in recent months concerts as a prime attack venue.
In the last week of September, Al-Abd Al-Faqir Media released a poster depicting a jihadist blending into a crowd wearing a white T-shirt and jeans. As concert-goers face the stage, the jihadist grips a grenade in his right hand.
“We have prepared for you what never crossed your mind, for our goal is to horrify you and terrorize you and harm you,” the text read.
The first week of October, in a move possibly meant to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the Las Vegas massacre — a mass shooting that ISIS first claimed and now encourages followers to emulate — a poster from Remah Media Production that circulated online showed a jihadist wearing a suit jacket and standing with a large knife behind his back while behind concert-goers.
“Wait for our surprises,” warned the text, signed “Islamic State.” The image used in the poster didn’t single out a specific venue, but appears to have been stock plucked from royalty-free photo site Pixabay, which jihadists have previously used in composing propaganda materials.
At the end of October, on a concert image with a cleaver-wielding attacker, Muharir al-Ansar called on Muslims in “Europe, America, Russia, Australia and elsewhere” to wage attacks. “Your brothers in your lands have absolved themselves of blame, so leap onto their tracks and take an example from their actions, and know that Jannah [paradise] is beneath the shadows of swords,” the message said.
ISIS-supporting media groups are global outfits that have driven online recruitment efforts and propaganda alongside ISIS’ official media channels.
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