“There is only one country in the Arab world that has been classified as 'free.' That nation is Tunisia,” slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi wrote in his final piece for The Washington Post, which was published posthumously on Oct. 17. It was an instance of macabre foreshadowing.

During Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s regional tour last week ahead of the G-20 summit, Tunisia was the only Arab country in which citizens mobilized online and organized demonstrations in the street. As soon as people heard about the visit, which was announced Nov. 22, a Facebook event was organized — and it quickly went viral. A number of civil society activists and organizations from a range of political and ideological backgrounds threw their weight behind the protests, including the powerful Journalist Syndicate. Protesters nicknamed Mohammed "Abu Monsar" ("Abu Saw" in Arabic) and carried corresponding props.

“[Mohammed] is unprecedented in his ways of oppressing his people,” said Tarek Kahlaoui, a political activist and one of the main organizers of the protest. “Never before [has] an opposition figure [been] killed and dismembered in an embassy, [which is] usually a safe haven. … His campaign in Yemen [is] similarly brutal — even though covered by anti-Shiite sentiments. [We remember] the way he treated members of the Saud family, and we can’t forget the abduction of the Lebanese prime minister and forcing him to resign. Because he’s unique in his despotism, many Tunisians felt the obligation to protest his visit.” Saudi Arabia also played host to Tunisia’s former dictator, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, after he fled the country in 2011, a fact not lost on protesters.

It’s been eight years since Tunisia’s 2011 Jasmine Revolution, which saw the country emerge as the only regional success story following the Arab Spring. But while freedom of expression might be one of the country’s biggest gains, it’s also clear that Tunisia — which has seen an economic slump, crippling IMF loans, high unemployment and a devalued currency — still has to play by the rules of its larger, richer neighbors. Highly publicized protests didn’t prevent Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi from enthusiastically meeting with Mohammed, who during his four-hour visit offered Tunisia a low-interest $500 million loan. The international media might have paid attention to the protesters, but Essebsi — and a slew of other politicians — did not.