With Saudi Arabia ‘s debut Riyadh Comedy Festival wrapping up its two-week run, Human Rights Watch (HRW) is urging the comedians who participated to speak up.

Following Aziz Ansari ‘s announcement that he planned to donate part of his fee to the global watchdog organization, HRW’s Saudia Arabia researcher Joey Shea has said that the nonprofit “cannot accept” donations from those who participated in the festival.

“Human Rights Watch didn’t call for comedians to boycott the Riyadh Comedy Festival, but simply asked them to express their support for free speech by urging the release of Saudi activists unjustly imprisoned,” he said in a statement shared with Deadline.

“Aziz Ansari and other comedians have generously offered to donate part of their performance fees to rights groups

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