Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Fury After Saudi Arabia ‘Chosen To Head Key UN Human Rights Panel’
The Saudis bid emerged shortly after it posted a job advertisement for eight new executioners, to cope with what Amnesty International branded a macabre spike in the use of capital punishment, including beheadings, this year.By The Independent | September 21, 2015
Faisal bin Hassan Trad, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (left), presents his credentials to the Acting Director-General of the United Nations Office, Michael Møller( right) at Geneva. January 7th, 2014. Photo by Pierre Albouy
The United Nations has been criticised for handing Saudi Arabia a key human rights role despite the country having arguably the worst record in the world on freedoms for women, minorities and dissidents.
Critics, including the wife of imprisoned pro-democracy blogger Raif Badawi sentenced to 1,000 lashes for blogging about free speech labelled the appointment scandalous, saying it meant oil trumps human rights.
Mr Badawis wife, Ensaf Haidar, who is leading an international campaign to free her husband, said on Facebook that handing the role to Faisal bin Hassan Trad, Saudi Arabias ambassador at the UN in Geneva, was effectively a green light to start flogging [him] again
Critics, including the wife of imprisoned pro-democracy blogger Raif Badawi sentenced to 1,000 lashes for blogging about free speech labelled the appointment scandalous, saying it meant oil trumps human rights.
Mr Badawis wife, Ensaf Haidar, who is leading an international campaign to free her husband, said on Facebook that handing the role to Faisal bin Hassan Trad, Saudi Arabias ambassador at the UN in Geneva, was effectively a green light to start flogging [him] again
Its a sad comment on our world that oil continues to trump basic human rights principles.
http://www.mintpressnews.com/fury-after-saudi-arabia-chosen-to-head-key-un-human-rights-panel/209729/
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
4 replies, 1292 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (3)
ReplyReply to this post
4 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Fury After Saudi Arabia ‘Chosen To Head Key UN Human Rights Panel’ (Original Post)
polly7
Sep 2015
OP
CincyDem
(6,331 posts)1. Did I read this right...
Saudi Arabia has been chosen to behead [of] UN Human Rights Panel ?
Sheesh.
polly7
(20,582 posts)2. Ten Reasons to Oppose the Saudi Monarchy
3. Saudi Arabia has one of the highest execution rates in the world, killing scores of people each year for a range of offenses including adultery, apostasy, drug use and sorcery. The government has conducted over 100 beheadings this year alone, often in public squares.
4. Saudi women are second-class citizens. The religious police enforce a policy of gender segregation and often harass women, using physical punishment to enforce a strict dress code. Women need the approval of a male guardian to marry, travel, enroll in a university, or obtain a passport and theyre prohibited from driving. According to interpretations of Sharia law, daughters generally receive half the inheritance awarded to their brothers, and the testimony of one man is equal to that of two women.
4. Saudi women are second-class citizens. The religious police enforce a policy of gender segregation and often harass women, using physical punishment to enforce a strict dress code. Women need the approval of a male guardian to marry, travel, enroll in a university, or obtain a passport and theyre prohibited from driving. According to interpretations of Sharia law, daughters generally receive half the inheritance awarded to their brothers, and the testimony of one man is equal to that of two women.
7. The country is built and runs thanks to foreigner laborers, but the more than six million foreign workers have virtually no legal protections. Coming from poor countries, many are lured to the kingdom under false pretenses and forced to endure dangerous working and living conditions. Female migrants employed in Saudi homes as domestic workers report regular physical, sexual, and emotional abuse.
8. The Saudis are funding terrorism worldwide. A Wikileaks-revealed 2009 cable quotes then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying Donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide .More needs to be done since Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Lashkar e-Tayyiba and other terrorist groups. In Syria the Saudis are supporting the most extreme sectarian forces and the thousands of volunteers who rally to their call. And while the Saudi government condemns ISIS, many experts, including 9/11 Commission Report lead author Bob Graham, believe that ISIL is a product of Saudi ideals, Saudi money and Saudi organizational support.
9. The Saudis have used their massive military apparatus to invade neighboring countries and quash democratic uprisings. In 2011, the Saudi military (using US tanks) rolled into neighboring Bahrain and brutally crushed that nations budding pro-democracy movement. In 2015, the Saudis intervened in an internal conflict in Yemen, with a horrific bombing campaign (using American-made cluster munitions and F-15 fighter jets) that has killed and injured thousands of civilians. The conflict has created a severe humanitarian crisis affecting 80 percent of the Yemeni people.
8. The Saudis are funding terrorism worldwide. A Wikileaks-revealed 2009 cable quotes then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying Donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide .More needs to be done since Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Lashkar e-Tayyiba and other terrorist groups. In Syria the Saudis are supporting the most extreme sectarian forces and the thousands of volunteers who rally to their call. And while the Saudi government condemns ISIS, many experts, including 9/11 Commission Report lead author Bob Graham, believe that ISIL is a product of Saudi ideals, Saudi money and Saudi organizational support.
9. The Saudis have used their massive military apparatus to invade neighboring countries and quash democratic uprisings. In 2011, the Saudi military (using US tanks) rolled into neighboring Bahrain and brutally crushed that nations budding pro-democracy movement. In 2015, the Saudis intervened in an internal conflict in Yemen, with a horrific bombing campaign (using American-made cluster munitions and F-15 fighter jets) that has killed and injured thousands of civilians. The conflict has created a severe humanitarian crisis affecting 80 percent of the Yemeni people.
https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/ten-reasons-to-oppose-the-saudi-monarchy/
Migrant workers rights
After granting foreign workers several months to regularize their status, the government launched a crackdown on irregular foreign migrants in November 2013, arresting, detaining and deporting hundreds of thousands of foreign workers in order to open more jobs to Saudi Arabians. In March, the Interior Minister stated that the authorities had deported over 370,000 foreign migrants in the preceding five months and that 18,000 others were in detention. Thousands of workers were summarily returned to Somalia and other states where they were at risk of human rights abuses, with large numbers also returned to Yemen. Many migrants reported that prior to their deportation they had been packed into severely overcrowded makeshift detention facilities where they received little food and water and were abused by guards.
Cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment
The courts continued to impose sentences of flogging as punishment for many offences. Blogger Raif Badawi was sentenced to a flogging of 1,000 lashes in addition to a prison sentence. Human rights defender Mikhlif bin Daham al-Shammari was sentenced to 200 lashes as well as a prison term.
In September, the authorities released Ruth Cosrojas, a Filipino domestic worker sentenced to 18 months imprisonment and 300 lashes after an unfair trial in October 2013 where she was convicted of organizing the sale of sex (quwada). She had received 150 lashes by the time of her release.
Death penalty
Courts continued to impose death sentences for a range of crimes, including some that did not involve violence, such as sorcery, adultery and drug offences, frequently after unfair trials. Some defendants, including foreign nationals facing murder charges, alleged that they had been tortured or otherwise coerced or misled into making false confessions in pre-trial detention.
The authorities carried out dozens of executions, many by public beheading. Those executed included both Saudi nationals and foreign migrants.
After granting foreign workers several months to regularize their status, the government launched a crackdown on irregular foreign migrants in November 2013, arresting, detaining and deporting hundreds of thousands of foreign workers in order to open more jobs to Saudi Arabians. In March, the Interior Minister stated that the authorities had deported over 370,000 foreign migrants in the preceding five months and that 18,000 others were in detention. Thousands of workers were summarily returned to Somalia and other states where they were at risk of human rights abuses, with large numbers also returned to Yemen. Many migrants reported that prior to their deportation they had been packed into severely overcrowded makeshift detention facilities where they received little food and water and were abused by guards.
Cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment
The courts continued to impose sentences of flogging as punishment for many offences. Blogger Raif Badawi was sentenced to a flogging of 1,000 lashes in addition to a prison sentence. Human rights defender Mikhlif bin Daham al-Shammari was sentenced to 200 lashes as well as a prison term.
In September, the authorities released Ruth Cosrojas, a Filipino domestic worker sentenced to 18 months imprisonment and 300 lashes after an unfair trial in October 2013 where she was convicted of organizing the sale of sex (quwada). She had received 150 lashes by the time of her release.
Death penalty
Courts continued to impose death sentences for a range of crimes, including some that did not involve violence, such as sorcery, adultery and drug offences, frequently after unfair trials. Some defendants, including foreign nationals facing murder charges, alleged that they had been tortured or otherwise coerced or misled into making false confessions in pre-trial detention.
The authorities carried out dozens of executions, many by public beheading. Those executed included both Saudi nationals and foreign migrants.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/saudi-arabia/report-saudi-arabia/
bbm
Back to the horrors in Yemen, which is being destroyed ....... by Saudi Arabia.
gregcrawford
(2,382 posts)4. Other than that...
... they're delightful and charming intolerant sociopaths. Don't ya just love those rascally Wahhabis?
Funny how even the mental defectives that screech about the ever-encroaching threat of Sharia Law gloss over the inconvenient facts that 19 of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudis, that funding for the operation was traced to Saudi Arabia, and that the only planes operating in U.S. airspace on 9/12 were those spiriting Saudis, many of whom were friends of the Bush family, out of the country.