Showing posts with label Saudi Arabia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saudi Arabia. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 06, 2024

Is the Saudi Crown Prince an Ex-Muslim Atheist?

Streamed live on Jan 29, 2024 | Did Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman leave Islam?

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Saudi Fury at Criticism from Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert

THE TELEGRAPH: Former champions had published open letter calling on the WTA not to stage a tennis tournament in the country

Saudi Arabia has told Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova to “get their facts straight” amid an escalating row about the nation’s increasing profile in tennis.
The Saudi ambassador to the US hit out after the two tennis greats wrote that the country was an incompatible choice as host for the next WTA Finals.

In a jointly-authored Washington Post column last week, the pair said that “the WTA’s values sit in stark contrast to those of the proposed host”.

The WTA came close to staging the 2023 Finals in Saudi, before going to Cancun in Mexico. However, the WTA is now believed to be close to moving the season-ending event to Riyadh for future tournaments.

“Not only is this a country where women are not seen as equal, it is a country where the current landscape includes a male guardianship law that essentially makes women the property of men,” says Evert and Navratilova’s article in the latest in a string of attacks on Saudi’s prospective investments in the sport. The pair add that Saudi Arabia “criminalises the LGBTQ community to the point of possible death sentences” and the country’s “long-term record on human rights and basic freedoms has been a matter of international concern for decades.” » | Tom Morgan, Sports News Correspondent | Tuesday, January 30, 2024 [£]

What is Saudi doing about gay rights? Are the authorities going to continue to punish gays severely and possibly put them to death simply for being attracted to people of the same sex, and for loving them? – © Mark Alexander

Thursday, December 07, 2023

Saudi’s MBS Welcomes Putin with Smiles & Handshake | Russia’s Bid to Checkmate US In Middle East?

Dec 7, 2023 | Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held bilateral talks in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on December 6. Putin said "nothing can prevent the development of our friendly relations" as he makes a rare trip abroad seeking to bolster Russia's influence in the Middle East. MBS also said that cooperation between the two countries had a "positive impact on many issues" in the Middle East. Before Saudi Arabia's visit, Putin made a trip to the UAE, where he met President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Wednesday, November 08, 2023

Arab States Intensify Pleas for Gaza Cease-fire as Public Anger Mounts

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Citing deepening fears for regional stability, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries are beseeching the U.S. to push Israel to end its military campaign in Gaza.

A rally in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in Amman, Jordan, on Oct. 27. | Khalil Mazraawi/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Facing growing anger from their own people, Arab countries are intensifying their appeals to the United States to pressure Israel to implement an immediate cease-fire in Gaza or risk sabotaging the security of the entire Middle East.

Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt have all implored American officials, including Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, to get Israel to halt its military assault.

“The whole region is sinking in a sea of hatred that will define generations to come,” the Jordanian foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, warned at a news conference this weekend.

As unrest spills into the streets and fear spreads that Iran-backed militias in the region will enter more directly into the conflict, some Arab leaders are worrying for their own security, said Elham Fakhro, an associate fellow at Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Program.

“Long-term resentment among the Arab public is fuel for extremist groups,” she said. “The region is already walking a delicate balance,” she added. “This is what drives Arab governments to use their available leverage to call for a cease-fire.” » | Vivian Nereim, Reporting from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | Tuesday, November 7, 2023

Monday, October 30, 2023

'Do What India Did': Saudi Prince Rips Hamas & Israel; Opposes 'Armed Resistance' In Palestine

Oct 22, 2023 | Saudi Prince and former intelligence chief, Turki Al-Faisal has blasted both Hamas and Israel for attacks on civilians. In a speech at a US university that has gone viral, Al-Faisal called on Palestinians to shun the violent resistance and adopt peaceful means of resistance like India did during British occupation of the country.


Related article here

Friday, October 27, 2023

Saudi Arabia Warns U.S.: Israeli Invasion of Gaza Could Be Catastrophic

THE NEW YORK TIMES: In discussions with their American counterparts, Saudi officials have framed a ground war as a potentially devastating blow to stability in the Middle East.

Saudi officials have firmly warned the United States in recent days that an Israeli ground incursion into Gaza could be catastrophic for the Middle East.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut and a member of the Armed Services Committee, was one of 10 senators who met last weekend with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

“The Saudi leadership was hopeful that a ground operation could be avoided for reasons of stability as well as the loss of life,” Mr. Blumenthal told The New York Times on Thursday. Saudi officials warned it would be “extremely harmful,” he said.

Senior Saudi officials have delivered even more forceful exhortations to their American counterparts in multiple conversations, raising their concerns that a ground invasion could turn into a disaster for the entire region, according to one Saudi official and a second person with knowledge of the discussions. » | Kate Kelly, Vivian Nereim, Mark Mazzetti and Edward Wong | Kate Kelly and Vivian Nereim reported from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Mark Mazzetti and Edward Wong reported from Washington. | Friday, October 27, 2023

Saturday, October 21, 2023

Powerful Saudi Prince Breaks Ranks to Condemn Hamas

THE TELEGRAPH: Prince Turki al-Faisal, a key power broker in the Middle East, hits out against the murderous tactics adopted by the terror group

Prince Turki al-Faisal: ‘I categorically condemn Hamas’s targeting of civilian targets of any age or gender as it is accused of’ | Leigh Vogel/Getty

An influential Saudi prince has issued a strong condemnation of Hamas in a rare rebuke from one of the Middle East’s main power brokers.

Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi ambassador to the UK and US, said he preferred “civil insurrection and disobedience” to the murderous tactics adopted by the Palestinian terror group.

“I categorically condemn Hamas’s targeting of civilian targets of any age or gender as it is accused of,” Prince al-Faisal said in a speech at the Baker Institute for Public Policy, a US think tank housed at Rice University in Texas.

“But equally, I condemn Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of Palestinian innocent civilians in Gaza and the attempt to forcibly drive them into Sinai,” he added, citing Israel’s recent bombardment of the enclave and order for its residents to flee south towards Egypt ahead of an expected ground offensive.

Prince al-Faisal’s remarks underline recent comments from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and indicate Riyadh may still be amenable to a historic normalisation deal with Israel, despite having put on hold talks amid the current war. » | Sophia Yan | Friday, October 20, 2023

Saudi, Israeli officials spar at regional conference: Prince Turki al-Faisal called Israel a 'Western colonising power' »

Why the West can no longer ignore Mohammed bin Salman’s Saudi Arabia: The calculated moves that have returned the pariah prince to the centre of diplomacy »

I concur with Prince Turki al-Faisal’s wise words. His forthrightness is both refreshing and courageous.

Hamas’s crimes were vile and depraved, but peace will never be achieved unless the root causes of the enmities and hatred between the Palestinians and the Israelis are addressed and corrected.

Whilst it is undeniable that Israel has a right to respond to the atrocities committed by Hamas, it is in the Israelis’ own interests to ensure that their responses are measured, appropriate and proportionate. Civilised behaviour demands that the punishment should always befit the crime. If Israel’s reaction turns out not to fit the crimes committed by Hamas, their disproportionate punishments will engender even more anti-Semitism throughout the world – a cancerous phenomenon which in many countries is already at fever pitch.

Decent people naturally want the best for Israel and the Israelis. Please don’t let them down, Mr Netanyahu. The world is watching. – © Mark Alexander

Sunday, October 08, 2023

Risking Death to Tell the Truth: Saudi Arabia’s LGBT+ Community

Nove 3, 2021 | With the recent takeover of Newcastle United by The Saudi sovereign wealth fund (PIF) more questions over Saudi Arabia’s attitude towards human rights have arisen. Primarily the treatment of the LGBT+ community. The Athletic’s Adam Crafton has spoken to LGBT+ people in Saudi Arabia about the awful conditions they live in and what they think of Newcastle's takeover. Illustrated by Philippe Fenner.

Saturday, October 07, 2023

Biden Accused of Betrayal of Khashoggi over Push to Deepen Saudi Ties

GUARDIAN INTERNATIONAL: Activists and Democrats condemn rapprochement – aimed at heading off China – with ‘autocratic, sociopathic government’

Biden with the crown prince in Jeddah last summer. Analysts said ‘realpolitik’ had driven Washington to deepen ties with the Saudis. Photograph: Balkis Press/Abaca/Rex/Shutterstock

Joe Biden is facing accusations of betraying a pre-election promise to re-evaluate ties with Saudi Arabia over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in favour of pursuing a rapprochement with the kingdom aimed at repelling a challenge from China to US primacy in the Middle East.

The charge, from human rights campaigners and some Democrats, follows the fifth anniversary of Khashoggi’s death at the hands of Saudi regime agents and comes amid mounting criticism of a proposed new defence treaty between Washington and Riyadh that could result in Saudi Arabia granting official recognition to Israel.

Biden took office initially intending to downplay the traditional US role in the Middle East, a policy consistent with holding Saudi Arabia at arm’s length following the outcry that greeted Khashoggi’s murder.

But the president has since performed a volte-face by saying on a visit to the region that the US would “remain an active, engaged partner” and adding: “We will not walk away and leave a vacuum to be filled by China, Russia, or Iran.” » | Robert Tait in Washington | Saturday, October 7, 2023

Khashoggi was killed five years ago. Thanks to Trump and Biden, Saudi Arabia is stronger than ever: After the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the US vowed to hold Saudi Arabia accountable. Biden has done the opposite »

Wednesday, September 27, 2023

Once Inconceivable, Officials’ Visits Highlight Warming Saudi-Israeli Ties

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Israel’s tourism minister went to Saudi Arabia, and a Saudi envoy toured the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The trips reflected how the two countries are moving toward normalizing their relationship.

The Saudi ambassador to the Palestinians, Naif al-Sudairi, left, with the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, Mohammad Shtayyeh, in the West Bank on Wednesday. | Pool photo by Majdi Mohammed

Parallel visits this week by an Israeli minister to Saudi Arabia and a Saudi envoy to the Israeli-occupied West Bank have highlighted the fast-warming ties between the Jewish state and the most powerful Arab country.

In the first-ever public visit by an Israeli minister to the Arab kingdom, Haim Katz, the Israeli tourism minister, attended a multilateral tourism conference in Riyadh on Tuesday and Wednesday that was organized by the United Nations.

Simultaneously, the Saudi ambassador to the Palestinians, Naif al-Sudairi, traveled through an Israeli border checkpoint to visit the West Bank, where he met with the leaders of the Palestinian Authority, the organization that administers just under 40 percent of the Israeli-controlled territory.

Experts said the visit by Mr. Sudairi, who is based in neighboring Jordan, was the first known visit by a Saudi official to the region since Israel captured it from Jordan in the 1967 war between Israel and its Arab neighbors. » | Patrick Kingsley, Reporting from Jerusalem | Wednesday, September 27, 2023

Thursday, September 21, 2023

What’s Happening with Normalising Ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel?

Sep 21, 2023 | For months, Saudi Arabia and Israel – with the United States – have been discussing an agreement to normalise relations.

The US has made it clear that official relations between its two allies in the Middle East is a top priority, with top diplomat Antony Blinken declaring it a “national security interest“. This comes amid a regional realignment after Iran and Saudi Arabia re-established diplomatic ties after years of animosity.

On Wednesday, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) told US channel Fox News: “Every day we get closer” to a normalisation deal with Israel.

Al Jazeera’s Behdad Mahichi reports.



Related video here.

Saudi Crown Prince Says Deal with Israel Is Closer ‘Every Day’

Sep 21, 2023 | Saudi Arabia is getting closer “every day” to a landmark deal normalizing diplomatic relations with Israel, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said. Yousef Gamal El-Din reports on Bloomberg Television.

Saturday, September 16, 2023

Biden Praises India's Modi and Saudi Arabia's MBS at G20 Summit

Sep 9, 2023 | President Biden speaks at a G20 Summit panel on the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Receives Ceremonial Reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan

Sep 11, 2023 | Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud arrived at Rashtrapati Bhavan. He was welcomed by President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince MBS received a Guard of Honour from the Indian Tri-Services. On September 09, Al Saud landed in India for the G20 Leaders’ Summit.

Friday, September 08, 2023

Twitter ‘Unfit’ for Banking over Alleged Complicity in Saudi Rights Abuses

THE GUARDIAN: Lawyers for family say Saudi government took brother’s data in breach and ‘arrested, tortured, and imprisoned’ him and others

Areej al-Sadhan (left) and Abdulrahman at Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, California, on 4 May 2013. The family has not seen Abdulrahman since 2021. Photograph: AP

The company formerly known as Twitter is “unfit” to hold banking licenses because of its alleged “intentional complicity” with human rights violations in Saudi Arabia and treatment of users’ personal data, according to an open letter sent to federal and state banking regulators that was signed by a law firm representing a Saudi victim’s family.

The allegations by lawyers representing Areej al-Sadhan, whose brother Abdulrahman was one of thousands of Saudis whose confidential personal information was obtained by Saudi agents posing as Twitter employees in 2014-15, comes as Twitter Payments LLC, a subsidiary of X (the company formerly known as Twitter), is in the process of applying for money-transmitter licenses across the US. » | Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington | Friday, September 8, 2023

Monday, September 04, 2023

Twitter Accused of Helping Saudi Arabia Commit Human Rights Abuses

THE GUARDIAN: Lawsuit says network discloses user data at request of Saudi authorities at much higher rate than for US, UK and Canada

The social media company formerly known as Twitter has been accused in a revised civil US lawsuit of helping Saudi Arabia commit grave human rights abuses against its users, including by disclosing confidential user data at the request of Saudi authorities at a much higher rate than it has for the US, UK, or Canada.

The lawsuit was brought last May against X, as Twitter is now known, by Areej al-Sadhan, the sister of a Saudi aid worker who was forcibly disappeared and then later sentenced to 20 years in jail.

It centers on the events surrounding the infiltration of the California company by three Saudi agents, two who were posing as Twitter employees in 2014 and 2015, which ultimately led to the arrest of al-Sadhan’s brother, Abdulrahman, and the exposure of the identity of thousands of anonymous Twitter users, some of whom were later reportedly detained and tortured as part of the government’s crackdown on dissent.

Lawyers for Al-Sadhan updated their claim last week to include new allegations about how Twitter, under the leadership of then-chief executive Jack Dorsey, willfully ignored or had knowledge of the Saudi government’s campaign to ferret out critics but – because of financial considerations and efforts to keep close ties to the Saudi government, a top investor in the company – provided assistance to the kingdom. » | Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington | Monday, September 4, 2023

MORE SAUDI NEWS here.

Saudi Dissident’s Brother Is Sentenced to Death in Social Media Case

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Under a crackdown on dissent by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, prosecutors accused a retired teacher of treason after he criticized the ruling family.

Mohammed Nasser al-Ghamdi. | via Saeed Nasser al-Ghamdi

A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced to death the brother of an exiled dissident, convicting him of disloyalty to the kingdom’s rulers in a case built around anonymous social media accounts where he shared criticism of the government.

The defendant, Mohammed bin Nasser al-Ghamdi, a 54-year-old retired teacher, had almost no public profile before he was arrested last year and accused of treason. One of the main social media accounts cited in his court case, on the platform X — formerly known as Twitter — has eight followers.

The sentence, which was handed down in July, was also based on a confession attributed to Mr. al-Ghamdi after his arrest, in which he said he viewed the king and crown prince as “tyrants” and “agents of the West” who were fighting against Islam, according to court documents reviewed by The New York Times. » | Vivian Nereim * | Sunday, September 3, 2023

* This article is based on court documents reviewed by Vivian Nereim, who reported from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Thursday, August 31, 2023

Saudi Man Sentenced to Death for Tweets in Harshest Verdict Yet for Online Critics

NPR: DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A retired teacher in Saudi Arabia was recently sentenced to death for his tweets criticizing the country's leadership to his handful of followers, according to rights advocates and his family.

The sentencing of Mohammad Alghamdi, who is in his mid-50s, is the latest in an escalating crackdown on social media users in Saudi Arabia. While others are serving prison terms ranging from 20 to 45 years for their tweets and online criticism of the government, Alghamdi appears to be the first person to be sentenced to death based solely on his posts on X, formerly called Twitter, and YouTube activity.

The wide-scale targeting of critics has unfolded as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pushes sensitive reforms that have overhauled life and loosened restrictions for many in the country. These sweeping reforms, like allowing women to drive, ending strict gender segregation rules in public and opening the country to entertainment and tourism, have coincided with a similarly sweeping crush of dissent.

Alghamdi, a father of seven living in Mecca, had gained just 10 followers between the two anonymous accounts he ran on X. According to Human Rights Watch, he used the social media site to rail against alleged government corruption, but was mostly resharing posts by more popular government critics. » | Aya Batrawy | Thursday, August 31, 2023

Sunday, August 27, 2023

U.S. Knew Saudis Were Killing African Migrants

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The United States was told last year that Saudi security forces were shooting, shelling and abusing groups of migrants, but it chose not to raise the issue publicly.

Last fall, American diplomats received grim news that border guards in Saudi Arabia, a close U.S. partner in the Middle East, were using lethal force against African migrants who were trying to enter the kingdom from Yemen.

The diplomats got more detail in December, when United Nations officials presented them with information about Saudi security forces shooting, shelling and abusing migrants, leaving many dead and wounded, according to U.S. officials and a person who attended the meetings, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity since they were not authorized to speak to journalists.

In the months since, American officials have not publicly criticized the Saudis’ conduct, although State Department officials said this past week, following a published report of the killings, that U.S. diplomats have raised the issue with their Saudi counterparts and asked them to investigate. It remains unclear whether those discussions have affected Saudi actions. » | Ben Hubbard and Edward Wong, Ben Hubbard reported from Istanbul and Edward Wong from Washington. | Saturday, August 26, 2023

Monday, August 21, 2023

Saudi Border Guards Accused of Killing Hundreds of African Migrants

THE NEW YORK TIMES: A Human Rights Watch report says the guards regularly fire on African migrants trying to enter the kingdom from Yemen and killed hundreds in a 15-month period.

Ethiopian migrants boarding a boat in Djibouti to reach Saudi Arabia in 2019. | Nariman El-Mofty/Associated Press

Border guards in Saudi Arabia have regularly opened fire on African migrants seeking to cross into the kingdom from Yemen, killing hundreds of men, women and children in a recent 15-month period, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Monday.

The guards have beaten the migrants with rocks and bars, forced male migrants to rape women while guards watched and shot detained migrants in their limbs, leading to permanent injuries and amputations, the report said.

The shooting of migrants is “widespread and systematic,” it said, adding that if killing them were Saudi government policy, it would constitute a crime against humanity.

A Saudi government statement dismissed the report as inaccurate.

“The allegations included in the Human Rights Watch report about Saudi border guards shooting Ethiopians while they were crossing the Saudi-Yemeni border are unfounded and not based on reliable sources,” the statement said.

The report provides chilling new details about the conditions along one of the world’s most dangerous smuggling routes, a patch of isolated, war-ravaged territory rarely visited by journalists, aid workers or other international observers.

It focuses on the plight of migrants from Ethiopia, one of the world’s poorest countries, who seek to enter Saudi Arabia — the Arab world’s richest nation and one of the globe’s largest oil exporters — and on the increasingly harsh efforts by the kingdom’s security forces to keep migrants out.

Faisal Othman, a migrant from Ethiopia, told The New York Times that he was trying to cross the border with about 200 others last September when a projectile exploded near the group and shrapnel tore apart the women around him. » | Ben Hubbard and Shuaib Almosawa, Reporting from Istanbul and New Delhi | Monday, August 21, 2023

All done, of course, “In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful”! Allah is generous (كريم), most merciful (رحيم). – © Mark Alexander