A verified, or “blue tick” Twitter account originating from Saudi Arabia has deleted a tweet in which the user behind the account posted a picture appearing to show an airliner about to crash into Toronto’s CN Tower as tensions between Canada and the kingdom escalate.
The post, which was up for around five hours before being deleted (an archive of the post can be seen here), showed an Air Canada jet flying towards the major Toronto landmark with two captions.
The first reading, “Sticking one’s nose where it doesn’t belong!” and the second adding, “As the Arab saying goes: ‘He who interferes with what doesn’t concern him finds what doesn’t please him.'”
The tweet was later reposted, with the aeroplane removed from the image.
The account which posted the tweet, Infographic KSA, also posted the same picture on their Instagram page. The Instagram post was also deleted around the same time as the tweets on Monday.
While some have claimed that the account is linked to the Saudi government or the royal family, the group’s website describes them as, “a voluntary non-profit project. It is managed by a group of Saudi youth who are interested in technology and social media Facts backed by numbers & evidence.”
The group has been praised in the past by advisor to the Saudi royal court Saud Al-Qahtani who tweeted last July that the group were doing good work saying it was, “a great national and educational effort by the country’s youth,” and recommended his 1.2 million followers on the platform follow the account.
The tweets come as Canada-Saudi tensions have dramatically increased following the arrest of Samar Badawi, sister of imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi who was sentenced in 2012 to 1,000 lashes and ten years in prison for “insulting Islam through electronic channels” according to Human Rights Watch.
Following the arrest of Ms Badawi, Global Affairs Canada, an official part of the Canadian government, tweeted “Canada is gravely concerned about additional arrests of civil society and women’s rights activists in Saudi Arabia, including Samar Badawi. We urge the Saudi authorities to immediately release them and all other peaceful human rights activists.”
The tweet sparked outrage from the Saudi government which has since declared the Canadian ambassador persona non grata, has halted all new trade relations, recalled the Saudi envoy to Canada, and has made moves to bring Saudi students studying in Canada back to the kingdom.
Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com