TEHRAN (FNA)- Hanna Smith, British Muslim rights activist, says Saudi Arabia, as the US’s "major cash cow” with its growing support for Israel, has become an “invaluable pawn in Zio-American foreign policy”, with no fear of being discarded over the human rights of Saudi citizens.
In an exclusive interview with FNA, Ms. Smith also said, “The US always put political economics over ethical foreign policy and have done the same upon hearing of the executions of Shia prisoners... The unsurprising US silence about the unjust executions is confirmation enough of their support for Saudi regime atrocity.”
Hannah Elizabeth Smith is the Co-Founder and Director of Initiative for Muslim Community Development, a US-based think tank with its focus on Muslims human rights.
Below is the full text of the interview:
Q: Saudi Arabia executed 37 people, majority of them Shias. Shias, in Saudi Arabia, are minority in terms of population, but majority when it comes to capital punishment. How do you view it?
A: The Saudi leaders have always responded to demands of the human rights activists and organizations for the improvement of rights conditions with an iron fist. In 2009, the Saudi regime under pressure of the international rights organizations approved the Arab Charter on Human Rights to limit the death penalty to only serious crimes. Over the past years, Saudis have tried to tie the executions to acts of terrorism and drugs smuggling, an effort that has so far failed to convince the home and foreign critics. The Saudi rulers apparently have begun to feel the risks of a popular revolution as the internal dissent is growing, particularly in the predominantly-Shia Eastern Province where the Shia citizens are subjected to tough economic deprivation and political discrimination despite concentration of the oil reserves in their region. In fact, in the wake of the risk of an outbreak of uprisings in the Arab countries after a wave of recent uprisings in Sudan and Algeria, the Saudi authorities have stepped up the crackdown on the political activism of the opposition. Existence of at least seventy people from Shia minority among those executed sets off the alarm bells about the rise of a new wave of sectarianism and repression of the dissenters.
Q: The US Administration neither condemned the Saudi’s mass execution, nor Khashoggi’s killing. Instead, it praised the regime for its massive oil exports. How do you assess that?
A: The US always put political economics over ethical foreign policy and have done the same upon hearing of the executions of Shia prisoners. The US are more concerned about losing their most important Arab ally, or should we say puppet, in the region. The unsurprising US silence about the unjust executions is confirmation enough of their support for Saudi regime atrocity. It appears that bin Salman has carried out the executions with Trump’s blessings and indeed tacit support. The Saudis are undoubtedly planning further clampdown on the opposition with the green light of Washington and without fear from prosecution of the Western powers.
As the United States major cash cow in the Middle East and with its growing covert and overt support for the Zionist regime in Israel the Saudis are too invaluable a pawn in Zio-American foreign policy globally to be discarded over the human rights of its citizens.
Q: Is the mass execution in line with the Crown Prince MbS claims of having planned reforms in the ultra-conservative country?
A: Mohammad bin Salman has unleashed a superficial liberalization agenda at home to create a smokescreen for the barbarity of his actual despotic agenda. However it is true that women are now allowed to drive, a halal gambling venue has opened up and bikini beaches are in the pipeline; all this is just for starters. In a nation that prided itself in implementing the most draconian interpretation of Islam these are gargantuan moves towards an astounding cultural makeover - religion-social engineering, akin to extreme cosmetic surgery, some might say. At the same time the Saudi obsession with erasing all heritage architecture in Mecca and Medina continues unabated. so clearly their 'cultural revolution' hasn't apparently reached the ears of their corporate development departments who have bulldozed Prophetic history and replaced it with ...well in the environ of the Holy Ka'aba, the most spiritual place on Earth, a gigantic clock with Las Vegas style shopping and entertainment facilities.
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