Democratic candidates criticize and threaten House of Saud
Criticism continues over the human rights and war crimes committed by the Saudi regime.
Democratic candidates for the upcoming US presidential elections have criticized the Kingdom in the face of threats from some of them to punish it for arresting the authorities, war crimes committed in Yemen and the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
This came during their participation, last Wednesday, in the television debate between candidates to represent their party in the presidential election 2020, according to the site quoted “The Intercept” US.
“I am going to announce it openly. We will not sell more weapons to the kingdom, we will actually force them to pay the price and make them outcasts,” said Joe Biden, a potential candidate, referring to Riyadh’s role in the Yemen war and the killing of Khashoggi.
“What we should know is that Saudi Arabia is not a reliable ally. We have to rethink the identity of our allies around the world, work with the United Nations and not continue,” candidate Bernie Sanders described Riyadh as “a brutal dictatorship.” In supporting brutal dictatorships.”
“When President Donald Trump did not take the position he should have taken when killing and cutting a journalist working for an American newspaper, he sent a signal to all dictators in the world that it was acceptable,” said candidate Corey Booker.
It is noteworthy that ten candidates participated in the debate, while 17 Democrats are competing for the nomination of their party, and their common goal to remove Trump from the White House in November 2020.
Since 2015, a coalition led by the Saudi regime has been waging war in Yemen under the pretext of supporting the legitimate government against the Iranian-backed Houthi group, at a time when the country is experiencing its worst humanitarian crisis.
On October 2, 2018, Khashoggi was killed inside his country’s consulate in Istanbul, and the case has become one of the most prominent and widely circulated on the international agenda since then.
After 18 days of denial, during which Riyadh provided conflicting interpretations of the incident, the kingdom announced the killing of Khashoggi following a “quarrel” with Saudi people, and the arrest of 18 citizens as part of the investigation, without disclosing the location of the body.
The CIA and Western governments said they believed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the killing of Khashoggi.
Bin Salman denied this, but said he bore ultimate responsibility for his death as the country’s de facto ruler.
