Arrests, Torture, and Executions in the Bedouin Kingdom

Crazy Crown Prince ensures tenure in office will be short-lived

By Yusuf Dhia-Allah

In his relentless drive to consolidate power in his own hands, Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman (MBS) has embarked on wholesale arrests in the medieval kingdom. Those arrested include academics, human rights activists, religious preachers, and members of the royal family. Even women are not spared despite the hired Western PR companies’ high-pitched propaganda to project him as a “reformer” and a “moderate modernizer.”

Last month, there was a spate of new arrests of leading Saudi preachers. This, however, was overshadowed by the news that Saudi prosecutors had asked for the death penalty for Isra’ al-Ghamgham, a human rights activists from Qatif. Al-Ghamgham and her husband Musa al-Hashim were arrested in December 2015 and have languished in prison ever since.

After their first appearance before the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) in the Saudi capital Riyadh on August 6, the public prosecutor demanded the death penalty for al-Ghamgham and five others, including her husband. They are accused of organizing anti-government protests, incitement to disobedience of the ruler, and providing moral support to participants in anti-government protests in the Shi‘i-majority region of Qatif.

Al-Ghamgham could face be-heading after a final court session on 28 October. In the absence of any codified law, Saudi judges are notorious for handing down harsh sentences, especially to people accused of social activism or demanding respect for human rights. In January 2016, Shaykh Nimr al-Nimr was executed. He had asked for the same rights for the Shi‘i community as “enjoyed” by others in Saudi Arabia. This did not amount to much since Saudi citizens have few rights but even this was unacceptable to Saudi rulers.

Now a female activist faces the same threat. Domestic female servants are routinely executed after their employers accuse them of wrongdoing. Confessions are extracted under torture or through the forced acknowledgement by signature of an Arabic document (confession) that the foreign maids do not understand. This is used as “evidence” of admission of guilt, leading to their public execution by sword wielding brutes.

Al-Ghamgham’s execution would set a dangerous precedent since all the charges relate to her peaceful activism, according to Saudi human rights activists. She has never advocated violence. In the medieval kingdom, however, even peaceful protests are considered heresy.

Saudi political prisoner and human rights activist, Isra’ al-Ghamgham is facing the very real and very grim prospect of death by beheading for participating in protests, “chanting slogans hostile to the regime” and filming protests for social media. She was arrested and thrown into a prison cell where she has languished for almost three years. During that time, the 29-year-old has been refused access to a lawyer. Al-Ghamgham is now the first woman to ever face the death penalty for taking part in a protest. Human Rights Watch said Saudi Arabia’s Specialised Criminal Court, which was set up in 2008 to try terrorism cases, had been increasingly used to prosecute peaceful dissidents and was notorious for its violations of fair trial standards. It also says al-Ghamgham’s charges do not resemble recognizable crimes. The activist had become well-known for taking part in political demonstrations in the Eastern Province and documenting them — namely filming and uploading videos on social media platforms, a practice she had been actively involved in since 2011. Her main concern was calling for an end to the notoriously sectarian establishment’s “systematic discrimination” against Shi‘is.

According to Human Rights Watch, at least 13 women’s rights activists have been detained recently in Saudi Arabia. Those currently in jail include Samar Badawi. She was arrested early last month, not for the first time one must point out. She has family members in Canada. When the Canadian government called for respecting her rights and demanded her release, the Saudis went berserk cutting off diplomatic and trade relations.

Other female activists in jail include Lujayn al-Hadhlul, ‘Azizah al-Yusuf, Iman al-Nafjan, Nuf ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, Maya al-Zahrani, Hatun al-Fassi, Nasimah al-Sadah, and Amal al-Harbi. According to the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR), at least 58 people, most of them Shi‘i, are currently on death row. Of these 31 have had their verdicts confirmed by the high court.

Human Rights Watch condemned the demand for death penalty for al-Ghamgham on August 21. “Any execution is appalling, but seeking the death penalty for activists like Isra’ al-Ghamgham, who are not even accused of violent behaviour, is monstrous,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Every day, the Saudi monarchy’s unrestrained despotism makes it harder for its public relations teams to spin the fairy tale of ‘reform’ to allies and international business.”

Unfortunately, the Saudi regime is not constrained by such statements. It has continued its campaign to arrest anyone that does not agree with the regime’s erratic policies. The aim is to crush all opposition, however mild, to enable Bin Salman to consolidate his power.

On August 11, Shaykh Nasir al-‘Umar, a former professor at the Faculty of Fundamentals of Religion at the Riyadh-based Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University was arrested and his Twitter account suspended. No official reason for his arrest was given, according to reports from the Kingdom.

Three days later (August 14), reports emerged of a political dissident and Muslim preacher who reportedly died as a result of torture while in regime custody. The UK-based rights group, Prisoners of Consciousness, announced on its twitter account that Shaykh Sulayman al-Dawish died under severe torture. The independent non-governmental organization advocates respect for human rights in Saudi Arabia.

Dr. Ahmad al-‘Amari, the former head of Madinah Qur’an Academy was also arrested because of his “close ties” to Shaykh Safar al-Hawali. The latter has been imprisoned since July 2017 because he criticized Bin Salman’s embrace of Zionist Israel.

Other scholars arrested in recent weeks include Musa‘id al-Tayyar, Professor of Qur’anic Science and Interpretation at King Saud University and Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Aziz al Fawzan. The latter dared to criticize Bin Salman’s policy of “liberalism” in an interview on al Majd TV. The Kingdom’s new “liberalism” policy does not include expressing disagreement with official policies, however polite or mild.

On August 19, it was reported that Shaykh Salah bin Muhammad al-Talib, one of the Imams of al-Masjid al-Haram was arrested and his Twitter accounts closed. What was his crime? He had criticized the free mixing of men and women and said “commanding the ma‘ruf and deconstructing the munkar” was a Qur’anic obligation. This aroused Bin Salman’s wrath sending the Shaykh to prison.

Yemenis mourn as they dig the graves of the children who were slaughtered in the school-bus massacre that resulted from a Saudi air strike with the “very nice weapons” supplied by the US.

The latest arrests come in the wake of similar arrests last September when scores of leading scholars including Shaykh Salman al-‘Awdah were imprisoned. In recent weeks the regime has started transferring prisoners from Dhehban prison in Jeddah to al Ha’ir prison in Riyadh for secret trials. ‘Abdullah al-‘Awdah, son of Shaykh Salman al-‘Awdah, said on August 15 that his father had been moved to al-Ha’ir but the prison authorities would not give him any information saying the matter was in the hands of the “security authorities.”

Prisoners often have no access to lawyers. Even if present, the lawyers can do little since judges are capricious and hand down sentences based on what the rulers want. In some instances, even lawyers have been imprisoned for defending human rights activists!

Amid the wave of new arrests and secret trials, news has emerged that the academic Dr. Muhammad al-Hadif and journalist Salih al Hashihi have been sentenced to five years in jail. Two human rights activists, Muhammad al-‘Utaybi and ‘Abdullah al-‘Alawi have each been handed 21-year prison sentences. Can the fate of other detainees be much different?

Bin Salman, the de facto ruler, is a one-man wrecking crew. Uneducated, crude, brash, and given to impulsive behavior, he has demolished the two pillars of state that had hitherto prevented collapse of the regime: compact with the religious establishment and consensus among the ruling princes. If previously the royal family ruled the medieval kingdom, now it has become a one-man dictatorship.

Not only have hundreds of religious scholars been arrested, there are believed to be 15,000 political prisoners in Saudi Arabia (other estimates put the number as high as 40,000). These include academics, writers, religious scholars, and human rights activists.

The regime has also intensified public beheadings. These are clearly intended to terrorize the people into submission as life has become increasingly difficult for ordinary citizens. This is the direct result of the ill-conceived policies of Bin Salman. He is beholden to Abu Dhabi crown prince, Muhammad bin Zayed, and looks up to him as his guide and mentor. Jared Kushner, the Zionist son-in-law of Donald Trump is another of Bin Salman’s frequent contacts from whom he takes policy directions.

The only reason Bin Salman is the crown prince is that he happens to be King Salman’s favorite son and is in charge of the king’s office. Since the king suffers from Alzheimers, Bin Salman is the de facto ruler and sole decision-maker. He has disrupted the inner consultative process among Saudi royals, thereby creating new enemies. This is why he needs facilitation from the outside (the US and Israel) to survive in power.

As if this was not bad enough, he also had a large number of family members — mostly cousins — arrested and tortured to extort money. Major General ‘Ali al-Qah†ani, aide to Prince Turki bin ‘Abdullah (son of former King ‘Abdullah) was tortured to death. Turki’s older brother Mi‘tab who for a long time was head of the National Guard was forced to fork out $1 billion. He was threatened with execution unless he signed a pledge never to indulge in politics.

On the external front, the Saudi conduct is equally atrocious. Throwing caution to the wind, Bin Salman has opened far too many fronts for himself. While the Syria fiasco preceded his power grab, others are his responsibility. His arrogant threats against Islamic Iran may come to haunt him even if he is able to instigate terrorists in such places as Sistan-Baluchistan, Ahvaz, and Kurdistan of Iran.

The war on Yemen has resulted in the death of more than 13,000 civilians and millions of Yemenis injured or displaced from their homes. This is Bin Salman’s own policy. On August 9, a school bus in Yemen’s Sa‘ada province was attacked killing 29 children and injuring many others.

In June 2017, he took on Qatar in an attempt to browbeat the smaller neighbor into submission. The Qataris showed unusual resolve and thanks to help from Islamic Iran and Turkey, they have been able to withstand Saudi pressure. Qatar also invited Turkey to open a military base thereby forestalling a planned Saudi-Emirati invasion of the tiny country.

Piqued by Ankara’s insolence — they cannot do anything financially against Islamic Iran but instigate terrorism — the Saudis withdrew their investments from Turkey. This has contributed to undermining the Turkish lira that has lost 40% of its value since the beginning of 2018. Coupled with American sanctions, Turkey’s economy has been badly shaken.

But here is the rub. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has not only stood his ground, especially against American blackmailing, he received a boost when Qatar pledged to invest or deposit $15 billion in Turkish banks. The announcement immediately arrested the slide of the Turkish lira.

Russia has also come to Turkey’s help. On August 15, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met his Turkish counterpart in Ankara and pledged full support in the face of American bullying. Lavrov said that the dollar was on the way to being replaced as the global reserve currency.

As the world moves toward multi-polarity, Saudi Arabia finds itself on the wrong side of history. It has hitched its camel to the American donkey. When the American donkey goes over the cliff, it will take the camel with it. The only imponderable is whether Saudi Arabia will implode first or go over the cliff.

 

Yusuf Dhia-Allah

Saudi Arabia: Wherever one looks, failure abounds

By Viktor Mikhin

A Saudi Arabian youth organization posted an image in its Twitter feed depicting a plane approaching the CN Tower (the tallest building in the world erected in Toronto, and the city’s symbol, whose height is 553.33 meters), which is reminiscent of the 9/11 terror attacks on New York.

The Canadian website CBC, which reported on this story in a somewhat uncomprehending manner, remarked that these consequences most likely stem from the scandal between the governments of Saudi Arabia and Canada. The day before, Riyadh declared the Canadian ambassador to the Kingdom a persona non grata. In addition, Saudi Arabia severed all financial and trade agreements with Ottawa.

It is common knowledge that young people everywhere are always the most aggressive, radical, brave and proactive. They refuse to accept authority or boundaries. At first glance, the direct threat of terrorism against Canada does not seem worthy of attention, after all, many threats appear every day. Washington is an apt example of this, because, every day, it issues a series of threats against different countries and for varied reasons. The US threats against Iran and Russia have truly gone into overdrive. But everyone has grown accustomed to these threats, they are no longer news. Saudi Arabia is another story altogether. Social media networks in the Kingdom are completely controlled, and many Saudis who express views that are even slightly different to the official ones will face prosecution. And the post in question actually depicted a future act of terrorism. What is going on here?

The answer lies in the fact that Saudi rulers, most probably the young Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Ale Saud, who took over the reins of the Kingdom and its internal and foreign policies because of his father’s frail age and illnesses, have decided to raise their own stature and that of their country in the eyes of others. It started with Saudi’s involvement in Syrian affairs on the side of terrorists. The fact that Bashar al-Assad became Syria’s president via legitimate elections did not worry the newly-crowned successor to the Saudi throne.

But with the aid from the Russian Aerospace Forces and Iranian military advisory help, the newly terrorists, bandits, social outcasts, fighting for Saudi money, were defeated and kicked out of Syria.

The sham intervention in Yemen then followed. Having realized that Saudi “eagles” were not competent fighters, the Saudi Crown Prince limited his country’s involvement in this war to air raids against defenseless cities, towns and villages, which resulted in much suffering, primarily, among the civilian population. At the same time, Saudi Arabia, engaged in its unlawful invasion operation in Yemen in defiance of international law, is actively hiring mercenaries from the criminal organization Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula who are to oppose one side of the conflict, Yemen’s Ansarullah movement and the revolutionaries. Al-Jazeera published a report, based on research conducted by the Associated Press journalists, on this, which contradicts Riyadh’s statements that the Kingdom, purportedly, dismantled this network.

The authors of the report disclosed that a deal between the terrorists and the Saudis allowed the former to leave the previously conquered settlements with their arms and loot unimpeded. According to a US public servant, who wished to remain anonymous, Americans are aware that the ranks of several units, fighting against the Yemenis from the Ansarollah movement and the revolutionaries, contain former militants from Al-Qaeda, including field commanders, who received money from the Saudis and were put on a list of terrorists connected to Al-Qaeda by the US. A similar article was published by the New York Times.

There has been news that the Royal Saudi Air Force struck a school bus in the Yemeni Sa’da Governorate with a missile. At least 43 people lost their lives, and dozens injured as a result. Johannes Bruwer, the Head of the Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross to Yemen, posted on Twitter that most of the victims were children under 10 years of age. Medical workers have said that more than 60 people have been injured. The channel “Al-Jazeera” quoted Hakim Almasmari, the Publisher and Editor in Chief of the Yemen Post, as saying that the air force struck the bus when it had entered a market square, and pilots had had a clear view of the bus under attack. What happened to lamentations by the Western press about this mass murder of children? Is it possible that they notice only things that benefit them or that they get paid well for, including Saudi money?

Meantime, failure to achieve success in these two missions prompted the Saudi Crown Prince to follow in the footsteps of his overlord, the US, and attempt to reign in its small neighbor, Qatar, by imposing inhumane sanctions in contravention to international law. Simultaneously dozens of accusations were levelled against Qatar for its involvement in affairs that Saudi Arabia had a hand in. For instance, one of the key accusations put forward against Qatar had to do with its active support of terrorists in Syria and Yemen, and its involvement in UAE’s internal affairs. Besides, Saudis do not like the Arabic media outlet Al-Jazeera that broadcasts some truthful information about the Kingdom.

The Saudi demand to shut down this news organization met with sharp protests from many, including journalists working for international media outlets, as this demand directly violated the human right to free speech and access to information. But still, Doha’s yielding to this demand, as well as others, would have signaled Qatar’s complete capitulation in the face of Saudi aggression. It would have meant Mohammad Bin Salman Ale Saud taking over the reins of power in Qatar, which was unacceptable to its rulers.

The Prince has not had much luck with stoking hysteria against Iran either. It is fairly normal that Riyadh wishes to dominate not only the Arab world but quite possibly, from the natural resource perspective, the Persian Gulf region too. But, from the viewpoint of the young Saudi ruler, Iranians stand in his way. And instead of joining forces and controlling the region, its rich oil deposits and the Arab world, together, the inexperienced Crown Prince decided on the path of confrontation by choosing famous Shell game players in the region, such as the USA and the usurper regime of Israel, as his allies. It is worth reminding that the Muslims world does not recognize Israel as a legitimate regime and refers to it as the Zionist enclave.

However, even in this case, the Saudi Crown Prince was unsuccessful, with only a transfer of a large sum of money to the US in exchange for outdated weapons, which the Saudi Army does not need, working in his favor. Since the Crown Prince did not see a way out of the situation, which he had created in the first place, the ruler chose to go along with the idea of showing his power and might to Canada, located several thousand miles away from his Kingdom. This is what actually transpired: Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chrystia Freeland, made a statement that expressed extreme concern about the plight of the Saudi Arabian human rights activist, Samar Badawi, who was arrested, and appealed for both of them to be released.

Statements by Canadian diplomats were followed by a recall of the Saudi ambassador from Ottawa by the Kingdom’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and by the declaration that the Canadian ambassador to Riyadh was a persona non grata there, giving him 24 hours to leave the country. In addition, Saudi Arabia announced that it would suspend all new trade and investment ties with Canada, and their joint education programs, aimed at sending Saudi students to this Western nation.

The creator of the website Free Saudi Liberals, Raif Badawi, was arrested in 2012 for criticizing the Kingdom’s religious police and spiritual leaders, and was also accused of committing cybercrime. He is currently serving a 10-year jail sentence, while his wife and three children remain in Canada. The head of the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the detained individuals were not human rights activists and instead represent interests of other nations. He also confirmed that they would be officially charged soon.

Many countries of the world officially and publicly criticize Saudi Arabian policies that suppress basic freedoms and curb its citizens’ rights to express themselves. Riyadh responds to all of this criticism fairly weakly according to the proverb “The dogs bark, but the Saudi caravan goes on.” And only now the Saudi Crown Prince became actively involved in the Canadian–Saudi relations by attempting to, as the saying goes, to fish in troubled waters, and restore his faltering authority and reputation.

Incidentally, Washington’s stance of keeping quiet in this situation is fairy appealing. On one hand, the US ought to support Ottawa, its nearest neighbor and ally, in its struggle against Saudi Arabia for human rights, democracy and free speech. On the other hand, who else would then opt to purchase US long-kept weaponry for hundreds of billions of dollars, and help Donald Trump in his tireless struggle to improve the US economy and reduce national debt. This is where Scylla and Charybdis lie, and careful maneuvering is required to pass between them. And simple phrases along the lines of “We think that Moscow was responsible for interfering in US elections, which led to the win by a candidate favored by Russia”; “Russia was behind the Salisbury nerve agent attack”, and “Moscow is the sole culprit for the imbalance of power in the Persian Gulf region and the entire Middle East” have stopped serving their purpose.

And now we will be able to examine the level of professionalism, if it exists, among American diplomats and politicians.

What you heard was from an article by Viktor Mikhin, a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.

Canada-Saudi Row: The Pot and the Kettle Calling Each other Black

By: Kayhan Int’l

The diplomatic row between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Canada – currently estranged from the US – and Washington’s pet poodle Saudi Arabia, which is trying to act like a bulldog after having tasted blood in neighbouring Yemen, seems to have spiraled out of control, with the two exchanging the choicest barbs.

It appears like a repeat of Riyadh’s last year’s feud with Doha, and the vain bid to undermine the economy of the emirate of Qatar.

Following the Canadian government’s criticism of the arrest of jailed Saudi activist, Raif Badawi’s sister, Samar Badawi, earlier this month, the Wahhabi regime responded with a severe backlash that saw expulsion of the Canadian ambassador, suspension of flights to Canada, recalling of thousands of Saudi students from high schools and universities in Canada, and freezing of trade and investment in Canada.

Although Canada cannot be exonerated in view of its dirty habit of hitherto acting like a servant of the US and poking its nose in the affairs of other nations, especially Muslim states, this time because of Donald Trump’s snobbish attitude toward Trudeau and his lust for the billions of petro-dollars of Saudi Arabia, the government of Canada finds itself at the receiving end.

Ottawa stands to lose financially from the Saudi measures, which is a clear indication from Riyadh that other countries should close their eyes to its crimes against humanity, whether the repression of people living under its rule or the bloodbath in Yemen, where almost on a daily basis the warplanes of the Arab coalition grind the people into dust.

Of course, Canada is no angel either with its shabby human rights record and its hypocrisy in turning a blind eye to the massacre in Yemen, coupled with its total indifference to the plight of the Shi’a Muslim majority of the Arabian Peninsula’s eastern oil-rich region.

Ottawa’s criticism of Riyadh for the arrest of a few women activists, whose relations, including Badawi’s wife Ensaf Haidar, are based in Canada, was definitely not a purely human rights measure, but a politically motivated one. 

According to analysts, underlying Riyadh’s unusually very hostile reaction to Ottawa to liquidate its Canadian equities, bonds and cash holdings to the tune of around $100 billion, could be instructions from Trump to punish Trudeau. 

Another possible reason is the rivalry between the two countries for having the maximum share of the US oil market, in view of the fact the US is the world’s second largest importer of crude oil while the US military is the world’s largest oil consumer.

The Saudis have not forgotten that despite their close ties to the US they were displaced by the Canadians in the late 1990s as the top exporter of crude oil to the US. Since then the chasm has widened between Riyadh and Ottawa mainly because of the rapid growth of Canadian oil imports — which now account for more than half of all US crude imports, while US imports of Saudi crude have dropped to 8.5 percent.

This explains why the Saudis have targeted the Canadian economy at this juncture. It seems that Riyadh backed by Trump, wants nothing more than the political capitulation of Canada, after having miserably failed in the war in Yemen, and earlier on the battlefields of Syria and Iraq – because of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s timely help to the said two countries in defeating US-Zionist-Saudi backed terrorism.
Canada’s total exports to Saudi Arabia, now under threat, total on average $1.45 billion annually.

Interestingly, it is not the first time that Saudi diplomatic attacks have been motivated by fossil-fuel markets. As a matter of fact, Riyadh’s ongoing dispute with Doha was caused by Qatar’s lifting of a moratorium on developing the world’s largest natural gas field it shares in the Persian Gulf with Iran and its normalization of diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic in light of their shared interests in the gas field.

Furthermore, Saudi Arabia has a history of using bizarre means to damage the economies of its rivals Now, with Saudi foreign cash reserves still very low and warnings that the regime, which is involved in an unwinnable war in Yemen, could face bankruptcy in less than two years, even small fluctuations in the oil market — along with growing domestic dissent — threaten to derail the regime or loosen the grip of the ruling Najdi family.

Canada has possibly reminded Saudi Arabia of its weaknesses, both economic or political, at a time when the spurious entity that was created in 1932 by Britain for the desert brigand of Najd, Abdul-Aziz Aal-e Saud, finds itself facing an uncomfortable and perhaps unforgiving future.

Saudi Head-choppers Go Berserk over Canadian Criticism of Rights Abuses

Samar Badawi, a human rights activist

In the week since the Bedouin-dominated kingdom of Saudi Arabia went berserk over Canadian criticism of its atrocious human rights record, things have not cooled off.

The Saudis ordered the Canadian ambassador to leave Riyadh in 24 hours. It also recalled its own envoy from Ottawa and ordered 15,000 Saudi students at Canadian universities to return home by September 1.

Additionally, another 800 doctors and medical students have also been ordered to return home.

As if these moves were not silly enough, the Saudi regime also announced that its airline, Saudia, would stop flying to Toronto starting Monday August 13. This is like cutting the nose to spite the face.

Suspending Saudia flights and withdrawing students from Canadian universities will adversely affect Saudi Arabia.

Since this is Hajj season, many Muslim Canadians that had booked flights on Saudi Airline will now have to scramble to find alternate flights. Additionally, with Saudia withdrawal from the market, other airlines will pick up business and leave the Bedouins’ airline up in the air without passengers!

The biggest blow is to Saudi students. The medieval kingdom is not known for scholarship or producing bright ideas. The 15,000 students and 800 medical professionals have been put in a quandary.

Given the experience of Saudi students that were withdrawn from Qatar last year and with nowhere to go, Saudi students in Canada fear a similar fate.

But what triggered the Saudi angst against Canada?

The dispute broke out on August 3 after the Canadian Embassy in Riyadh tweeted that it was “gravely concerned” over a spike in the arrests of human rights campaigners in the kingdom. It mentioned in particular the human rights activist Samar Badawi calling on “Saudi authorities to immediately release them and all other peaceful #humanrights activists.”

Saudi Arabia’s baby-faced Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir criticized Canada’s call to free jailed civil society activists and said his country would not tolerate any “interference” in its domestic affairs.

Jubeir tweeted on August 6 that Canada’s position was based on “misleading information,” adding that those detained were “subject to Saudi laws that guarantee their rights.”

Jubeir, a commoner, cannot but do what would please the tempestuous illiterate Crown (clown) Prince Muhammad bin Salman. This childish man has taken on too many fights without winning any.

The reference to “interference” in Saudi domestic affairs as well as “rights guaranteed” to detainees under Saudi law needs deconstruction.

Saudi Arabia has been interfering in other countries’ affairs for decades. Let us list some: Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Bahrain and Yemen.

In Yemen, it attacked a school bus in Saada province massacring 40 children on August 9.

Since March 2015, the Saudis have bombed dirt-poor Yemen killing and maiming an estimated 600,000 people. Cholera epidemic—described by the UN as the worst in history—rages in Yemen. It has affected more than one million children.

Let us also consider the “rights guaranteed” to detainees under Saudi law.

In Saudi Arabia, there is no codified law. The whim of the judge or some prince passes off for law.

Under the barbaric Saudi practices, a father cannot be executed for killing his daughter or a husband for killing his wife.

This medieval regime claims that its laws are based on the Qur’an and the Prophetic Sunnah. This is an insult to Islam.

There is not a single verse in the Qur’an or a single hadith of the Prophet (pbuh) that allows for such barbaric practices.

Let us consider one specific case of how the Saudi “judicial” system works.

In December 2012, a Saudi celebrity preacher, one Layhan al Ghamdi was arrested for raping, torturing and brutally killing his five-year-old daughter.

The young girl’s back and skull were smashed and broken with an iron rod. Why did the preacher rape and kill his own daughter?

He accused the little girl of committing adultery!

Would a five-year-old girl even know about sex? Such allegations can only come from the demented minds of the Saudi barbarians.

Far from sentencing him to death, the court simply ordered the preacher to pay “blood money” to the girl’s mother and released him for the time served (a few months).

This caused uproar in the country forcing a retrial of the rapist preacher but he was released after another few months when the judge ruled that there was no evidence he had raped his daughter!

There are more than 15,000 political prisoners in Saudi Arabia (other estimates put the number as high as 40,000). In most cases, these people—academics, lawyers, religious scholars—have only asked for minimum rights for the people.

Lawyers have been jailed for defending their clients.

Human rights activists in Canada have lobbied the Canadian government for many years to terminate the $15 billion arms contract with Saudi Arabia.

The Canadian contract stipulates that the regime cannot use these armored vehicles against its own civilian population. The Saudi regime has violated the agreement by using these vehicles against the Shia minority in the Eastern province.

The latest spat between Saudi Arabia and Canada offers a good opportunity to terminate all dealings with these barbarians from Najd.

It is time for Canada to uphold its own values and principles.

Crescent International

Bani Saud’s atrocious human rights record

By Tahir Mustafa

Whose guilt is greater in violating the human rights of people: Bani Saud or Bani Israel? Perhaps it does not matter since they are partners in crime and have fully embraced each other. The kissing cousins have illegally occupied the two holy lands by brute force and are busy terrorizing the respective populations under their control. Both also seem to be nearing the end of their miserable existence.

Even as the Zionists were busy clubbing Palestinian children to death, Bani Saud ushered in the new Gregorian calendar year with mass executions in an attempt to terrorize the restless population of the Arabian Peninsula. This was followed on January 12 by the arrest of Samar Badawi, sister of the jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi that Amnesty International described as “damning proof” of the medieval Kingdom’s atrocious human rights record.

Samar Badawi was arrested with her two-year-old daughter in the port city of Jeddah on January 12. The police interrogated her for four hours before she was thrown in the notorious Dhaban prison, Amnesty said in its statement. One wonders what the muttawi‘oon (the Saudi thought police) would say about male police officers (there are no female police officers in the Kingdom) — non-mahram men (not related by blood or marriage) — interrogating a woman. The muttawi‘oon usually beat up men and women if they are seen together but are not related to each other. “The arrest… is the latest example of Saudi Arabia’s utter contempt for its human rights obligations and provides further damning proof of the authorities’ intent to suppress all signs of peaceful dissent,” Amnesty’s statement added.

Raif Badawi, 31, was detained in 2012 for criticizing the Saudi regime. He received 50 lashes in a public square in Jeddah in January 2015 as the first installment of his 1,000-flogging sentence. He was deeply traumatized by the flogging and is reported to be in very poor health. The CBC program, “As it Happens,” confirmed this on January 18 while talking to a human rights monitor for Amnesty International. The rights group has held protests against Saudi mistreatment of human rights activists including Raif Badawi and Waleed Abu al-Khayr, a human rights lawyer who is also in prison because he dared to defend human rights activists in court. He has been sentenced to a 15-year jail sentence against which Amnesty supporters demonstrated in front of the Saudi embassy in the German capital, Berlin, January 8, according to the French news agency, AFP.

Raif Badawi’s wife, Ensaf Haidar, wrote on her Twitter page that Samar’s arrest was related to her alleged role in managing a Twitter account campaigning for the release of her ex-husband, Waleed Abu al-Khayr. It is interesting to note that Abu al-Khayr first came to prominence when he took on Samar Badawi’s case who had been physically and mentally abused by her own father. When she fled to a women’s shelter, her father charged her with “parental disobedience.” She was arrested and thrown in jail. Abu al-Khayr defended her and after winning her release, married her. In October 2013, Abu al-Khayr was arrested and imprisoned for three months because he stood with victims of the Kingdom’s flawed judicial system.

In an op-ed piece published in the Washington Post on November 26, 2013, Abu al-Khayr wrote,

My country’s legal system is based on uncodified principles of Islamic law, which leaves judges largely free to decide what actions, in their view, are crimes, as well as the appropriate punishments. I believe that the Interior Ministry actively encourages religious extremism and intolerance among the judiciary, recognizing that judges with these views are far more willing to convict human rights and civil society advocates of vague religious and social offenses.

One of the principal causes of my conviction was my reaction to the unfair trial of 16 men known as the “Jiddah reformers,” nine of whom were trying to set up a human rights organization. Prosecutors castigated them as extremists and terrorists, and a judge sentenced all of them to lengthy jail terms. I signed a statement in 2012 criticizing the convictions and calling for the men’s release. That signature was the basis of my conviction last month [October 2013].

Arbitrary law

To better understand the arbitrary nature of Saudi law, one must consider the manner in which the courts handled a celebrity preacher’s case. Saudi citizens were outraged by a Riyadh court verdict in February 2013 that let the celebrity TV preacher Fayhan al-Ghamdi get away with a light sentence after he was convicted of raping and brutally torturing his five-year-old daughter Lamah. The child died in hospital after being so horribly brutalized and abused by her own father.

Rather than sentencing him to death for committing murder, not to mention raping her, as would be the case with ordinary offenders (less than a month after the public execution of a poor, frightened Sri Lankan maid, Rizana Nafeek, who was wrongly accused of smothering a child in her care to death), or at the very least being locked up for life for such a horrendous crime, al-Ghamdi served only a few months in jail before the judge ruled the prosecution could only seek “blood money.”

The judge fined him a mere $50,000 in blood money to be paid to the girl’s mother whom the preacher had divorced. Albawaba News, a Saudi internet news service, quoted the judge as saying, “Blood money and the time the defendant had served in prison since Lamah’s death [in December 2011] suffices as punishment.”

Why did the preacher torture and brutalize his own daughter? He had accused the five-year-old girl of “losing her virginity.” The implication was of the child having illicit sexual relations with somebody. Would a five-year-old girl even know about sex?

Under Saudi law, fathers cannot be executed for murdering their children or husbands for killing their wives. What ayah of the Qur’an or hadith of the Prophet (pbuh) allows this? This may be based on some primitive tribal custom of Najd that the regime and its enabling preachers insist is part of Islam, but it has nothing to do with Qur’anic teachings or the Prophetic Sunnah.

Al-Ghamdi admitted to using a cane and cable to “punish” the child. The young girl was admitted to hospital on December 25, 2011 with multiple injuries, including a crushed skull, broken ribs, broken left arm, and extensive bruising and burns. She died several weeks later. Randa al-Kaleeb, a social worker at the Riyadh hospital where Lamah was admitted, said the girl’s back was broken and that she had been “raped everywhere.” What kind of a father, much less one who claims to be a religious scholar, would inflict such harm on his own child? Al-Ghamdi’s conduct caused such outrage that there were public calls for his execution. Three Saudi activists raised formal objections to the ruling through the Twitter hashtag #AnaLamah (which translates as “I Am Lamah”). It instantly went viral throughout the Kingdom.

While giving broad latitude to judges that hand down sentences based not on any codified law but their own whims, the Saudi regime was forced to intervene in al-Ghamdi’s case because of public outrage. “Today… the Saudi Justice Ministry issued a statement saying the cleric remained in prison and the case was continuing,” reported John Hall in the British daily, The Independent, on February 12, 2013. He also quoted The Times of London, “…sources in the Saudi capital Riyadh are saying the royal family had been ‘stung’ by the outrage over the case, with senior members intervening to ensure a stricter punishment is given.”

When al-Ghamdi reappeared in court on October 8, 2013, he was sentenced to eight years in prison and 800 lashes. This was the direct result of public pressure. The protests waged on social media had clearly proved embarrassing for the regime. The court also ordered the preacher to pay one million riyals ($270,000) — not the 10 million riyals that Lamah’s mother had demanded as blood money. Lawyer Turki al-Rasheed, representing the girl’s mother, confirmed this after the verdict was announced (AFP, October 8, 2013). The preacher’s second wife, also accused of taking part in the torture and murder of the little girl, was sentenced to 10 months in prison and 150 lashes.

Al-Ghamdi was never subjected to lashes. Instead, on August 29, 2015, another judge released him on bail, citing “lack of evidence” in the case. What evidence was the judge looking for: the poor girl was dead; she had been raped with a metal rod; her back and skull were broken. All this was confirmed in the hospital report and al-Ghamdi never denied inflicting such punishment on the poor girl.

It is clear that harsh punishments are inflicted on people demanding their basic rights or are critical of the regime’s atrocious human rights record, such as Raif Badawi, his sister Samar, or human rights lawyer Waleed Abu al-Khayr. On April 15, 2014 when Abu al-Khayr appeared in a Riyadh court for routine hearing, the judge promptly sent him to prison. Neither his lawyer nor his family was allowed to visit him in jail.

Commenting on Samar Badawi’s recent case, Philip Luther, Amnesty’s Director for Middle East and North Africa, said her arrest “…demonstrates the extreme lengths to which the authorities are prepared to go in their relentless campaign to harass and intimidate human rights defenders into silent submission.”

International rights organizations have seen through the Saudi regime’s practices in using the pretext of “fighting extremism” to violate the rights of human rights activists. They point to the regime’s grim human rights record arguing that widespread violations continue unabated in the country. On January 9, Amnesty again voiced deep concerns over the imprisonment and abuse of peaceful human rights defenders and activists by the regime.

“More and more human rights defenders are being sentenced to years in prison under Saudi Arabia’s 2014 counter-terror law, while its allies shamelessly back the Kingdom’s repression in the name of the so-called ‘war on terror,’” said James Lynch, Amnesty International’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa. He added that dozens of prisoners of conscience remain in jail “at the risk of suffering cruel punishments and ill-treatment for their peaceful activism.”

While the Saudi regime’s atrocious human rights record has a long history, abuses intensified in the wake of the Islamic Awakening movements that swept a number of long-entrenched dictators from power in 2011. The winds of change affected the medieval Kingdom as well. A number of activists started a campaign for some basic freedoms. Their demands were not revolutionary; they merely wanted certain basic rights such as the right of assembly and forming associations. Such calls were summarily dismissed and activists arrested. Fearing further calls, the regime introduced draconian measures to clamp down on any such demands.

On December 16, 2013, the regime imposed a decree banning calls for reform and prohibited exposing corruption in the Kingdom. It also made it a crime to withdraw bay‘ah (allegiance) from the king. Those violating these draconian measures would be considered terrorists and sentenced to jail terms ranging from three to 10 years. The decree was published in its entirety for the first time on January 31, 2014 in the government’s official gazette, Umm al-Qura. There are a string of other provisions in the decree that were promulgated by then King Abdullah (died, January 23, 2015).

Immediately after the decree’s “approval,” then Saudi Minister of Culture and Information, ‘Abd al-‘Aziz Khoja (he has since been sacked from his post for closing down the extremist channel Wisal linked with the terrorist takfiri group in Syria), claimed it struck a “balance” between prevention of crimes and protection of human rights, according to Islamic law. Khoja did not explain how it would “protect” human rights when it criminalizes calls for reform or exposure of corruption that is widespread among the thousands of princes. Not surprisingly, human rights activists like ‘Abd al-‘Aziz al-Shubaily called the decree a “catastrophe.” Calling for the release of 40,000 political prisoners or demanding a fair trial for them would henceforth constitute terrorism and the person would end up in jail.

The Saudi constitution that was “granted” by then King Fahd (died, 2005) in 1992 — no discussion of its provisions was ever permitted, much like the December 16, 2013 decree — says in Article 1, “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a sovereign Arab Islamic state with Islam as its religion; God’s Book and the Sunnah of His Prophet, God’s prayers and peace be upon him, are its constitution.” There is not a single verse in the majestic Qur’an or any hadith of the noble Messenger (pbuh) that criminalizes calls for reform or prohibits exposure of corruption. Islam’s injunctions are very clear about corruption: there is severe divine reprimand and punishment for such misconduct (see Surah al-Mutaffifin, for instance). The Saudi regime is openly going against the injunctions of the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the noble Messenger (pbuh). This constitutes a declaration of war against Allah (swt) and His Prophet (pbuh); the Qur’an calls such people as mufsidoona fi al-ard (spreaders of corruption on earth). Allah (swt) warns against such conduct and severe punishment awaits those who refuse to take heed (2:27, 7:56, 7:85, 11:85, 13:25, 30:41).

Under Islamic law, allegiance to the ruler cannot be coerced; it is given voluntarily. Despite claiming to be ruled by the Qur’an and the Prophet’s (pbuh) Sunnah, it is Bedouin tradition that is being imposed on the people in the desert Kingdom. It is the same Bedouin mentality that is at work in the persecution and imprisonment of such well known human rights activists as ‘Abdullah al-Hamid and Mohammed al-Qahtani. They were sentenced in 2012 to 11- and 10-year sentences respectively, for criticizing the government’s human rights abuses and for membership in what was alleged to be an “unlicensed” political and civil rights organization. The problem is there are no licensed human or political rights organizations in the Kingdom. None is allowed.

Al-Hamid and al-Qahtani were convicted for “breaking allegiance with the king,” “slandering the religiosity and integrity of the Supreme Council of Religious Scholars,” “sowing discord,” and “attempting to shake the internal security of the country by calling for demonstrations.” Under the new regulations, several of these charges have now been classified as acts of terrorism.

Some of the new regulations would be laughable were they not so serious in intent. For instance, some religious “scholars” in Saudi Arabia believe that the earth is flat. The late ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Baaz (died, 1999), the former chief priest of the Kingdom, was one of them. Blind from childhood, he insisted the earth was flat because “…when I walk on it, I do not find it round!” If anyone were to say that the earth is round, he would be declared a terrorist and charged under the new regulations for slandering the “religiosity and integrity of the Supreme Council of Religious Scholars.”

Al-Hamid and al-Qahtani belong to the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), an organization that the interior ministry refused to grant license to and is therefore considered “illegal.” Other members of the organization serving sentences for convictions on similar charges include: Mohammed al-Bajadi, Omar al-Saeed, and ‘Abd al-Kareem al-Khodr. A jailed member, Fowzan al-Harbi, was put on trial at the Riyadh Criminal Court on charges that included “participating in calling for and inciting breaking allegiance with the ruler,” “explicit libel of the integrity and religiosity of the Supreme Council of Religious Scholars,” “participating in setting up an unlicensed organization” — namely, ACPRA — “publishing details of his investigation,” and “describing the ruling Saudi regime — unjustly — as a police state.”

In a press release on March 20, 2014, the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a scathing report about the regime’s new terrorism regulations. Titled, “Saudi Arabia: New Terrorism Regulations Assault Rights,” the report decried the new draconian restrictions that “threaten to close down altogether Saudi Arabia’s already extremely restricted space for free expression.” It quoted Joe Stork, HRW deputy director for Middle East and North Africa as saying,

Saudi authorities have never tolerated criticism of their policies, but these recent laws and regulations turn almost any critical expression or independent association into crimes of terrorism. These regulations dash any hope that King Abdullah intends to open a space for peaceful dissent or independent groups.

Under the guise of fighting terrorism, the regime has cast its net wide and clamped down on all manner of dissent, however innocuous. The promulgation of the “Penal Law for Crimes of Terrorism and its Financing” is the blunt instrument the Saudis are using to criminalize peaceful dissent and calls for reform. The Saudi judiciary is notorious for handing down harsh sentences against those the regime does not like and give a free pass to its supporters and hangers-on.