According to Clarence Rodriguez, the 2018–2019 crackdown can be considered as following from a wave of arrests in September 2017 of intellectuals and moderate clerics,[1] including the arrests of Abdulaziz al-Shubaily, a founding member of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA); Mustafa al-Hassan, an academic and novelist; and Essam al-Zamel, an entrepreneur.[10][11] Rodriguez described the September 2017 arrests as constituting a campaign of political repression by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS), in reaction to which Jamal Khashoggi left Saudi Arabia for exile in the United States.[9]