The easiest and quickest way to expose the hypocrisy of our government’s, and the wider western world’s, professed support for democracy and freedom in the Arab world is to say just two words: Saudi Arabia.
From the BBC website today:
Amnesty International has accused Saudi Arabia of reacting to the Arab Spring by launching a wave of repression.
In a report, the human rights group said hundreds of people had been arrested, many of them without charge or trial.
Prominent reformists had been given long sentences following trials Amnesty called “grossly unfair”.
So far unrest has largely been confined to the Shia minority in the east of the country.
In its 73-page report published on Thursday, Amnesty accuses the Saudi authorities of arresting hundreds of people for demanding political and social reforms or for calling for the release of relatives detained without charge or trial.
The report says that since February, when sporadic demonstrations began – in defiance of a permanent national ban on protests – the Saudi government has carried out a crackdown that has included the arrest of mainly Shia Muslims in the restive Eastern Province.
Yet, in October, when Prince Nayif – the Interior Minister who has been behind much of this repression – was appointed Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, the US government lauded the move and President Obama said:
The United States looks forward to continuing our close partnership with Crown Prince Nayif in his new capacity as we strengthen the deep and longstanding friendship between the United States and Saudi Arabia.
And here’s our premier, David Cameron, welcoming “the strength of the bilateral relationship between the UK and Saudi Arabia” in a meeting at Number 10 with Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al Faisal.
Depressing, isn’t it?
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