Human rights report monitoring human rights deterioration in the Kingdom

An annual human rights report issued by the Al-Qast Foundation to support human rights in the Kingdom monitored the deterioration of human rights during the year 2019 and the intensification of repression against the peaceful opposition.

The Foundation stated that the trend of the human rights situation in the Kingdom in 2019 is a result of the consequences of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018.

This incident has caused the largest diplomatic crisis for the Saudi authorities since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Towers in New York on September 11, 2001.

In the first month of 2019, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions Anis Kalamar initiated a special investigation into the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, his conclusion submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council in June indicated that the Khashoggi killing “Ashraf It has been planned, supported, and endorsed by senior officials in Saudi Arabia. ”She believes that his killing constitutes an international crime that states should seek international prosecution, and she called on the Human Rights Council, the Security Council, or the Secretary-General of the United Nations to demand a criminal investigation into what happened.

However, this did not deter the Saudi authorities from continuing to suppress critical voices, in order to continue the support and support of the international allies.
The report noted that the Saudi authorities launched new arrest campaigns in 2019 targeting journalists, activists, and bloggers, and the trials of prisoners of conscience, such as Muhammad al-Otaibi and Issa al-Nukhaifi, and women activists of prudent women since 2018, and clerics such as Salman al-Awda and Hassan Farhan al-Maliki, continued in trials marred by violations For international fair trial guarantees.

Among its violations this year is the sentencing of five of the 11 individuals accused of the Khashoggi murder, and the imprisonment of three others in a mock trial where Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman was not included among the defendants, as well as his adviser Saud Al-Qahtani, and the former deputy chief of General Intelligence, Ahmad, was acquitted. Al-Asiri is completely free from any involvement in the crime.

The Saudi authorities also continued violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law in Yemen, and these violations may amount to crimes against humanity in a war that entered Yemen in the largest humanitarian crisis in the world and killed more than 100,000 people directly linked to the conflict.

In 2019, the Saudi authorities exceeded the number of annual executions in the past ten years, reaching a total of 185 individuals, including 37 in a mass execution carried out on April 23, most of whom executed Shi’a men from the eastern region.

On the other hand, the Saudi authorities made significant investments in sports and entertainment as part of the 2030 Economic Vision, in an effort to polish Saudi Arabia’s image abroad and to obscure its terrible human rights violations. Millions have been pumped into a massive public relations campaign to attract major Western sporting events to the Kingdom and open its doors to leisure tourism.

The authorities have implemented a number of surface reforms to improve the status of women, allowing women to travel without guardian permission and giving them greater legal authority over their family affairs.

However, these reforms cannot pave the way for gender equality in the Kingdom as long as the male guardianship system exists, impedes equal participation of women in decision-making in the political, economic and social sphere and restricts women’s enjoyment of their rights, including the right to movement, their rights to education and work, access to justice and privacy.

The worsening of this human rights situation has been matched by the tireless efforts of Saudi activists and human rights organizations in the Diaspora alongside the international civil society, which has resulted in an unprecedented mobilization of the international community that has resulted in public denunciation and demands for accountability for human rights violations committed by the Saudi authorities.

This includes a decision of the European Parliament in February condemning in the strongest terms the detention of prominent human rights activists and everyone imprisoned for their peaceful activities, including human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers. The decision called for a ban on the sale of European Union surveillance technologies to the Kingdom.

In June, the Court of Appeals ruled the British government’s decision to continue to issue licenses to sell military equipment to Saudi Arabia illegal.

In July, the US House and Senate passed resolutions stopping the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia that were not implemented as a result of President Trump’s use of the veto, and these are just two examples among many other examples in which governments have suspended the sale of weapons to the Kingdom following the Khashoggi murder or because of Saudi violations in the war in Yemen.

In a significant initiative on March 7, 2019, a group of 36 member states of the United Nations led by Iceland presented a joint statement during the fortieth session of the Human Rights Council expressing grave concern about the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia, specifically with regard to freedom of expression, condemning in the strongest terms the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

In another joint statement submitted on September 25 by 25 Australian member states of the United Nations, led by Australia, it expressed concern about the prosecution and intimidation of activists, enforced disappearance practices, common arbitrary detention and reports of torture of prisoners and unfair courts, as well as extrajudicial executions, and the statement called for an end to impunity Accounting regarding the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

It is encouraging that these international community initiatives have had a tangible impact in addressing the violations of the rights of the Saudi authorities on human rights. The authorities have made concessions such as the temporary release of most women human rights defenders, although the trial continues, in addition to mitigating Some court rulings.

And because it is clear to us that negligence, silence and collusion will only increase violations, Al-Qastat calls on the international community to increase its pressure on the Saudi authorities and urge them to take specific measures to improve the human rights situation in the country, I wrote the content of the periodic review of Saudi Arabia in March 2019, which is an effective tool to monitor Compliance of the Al Saud authorities and assisting them to improve their human rights record.

At the time of the adoption of the universal periodic review, the Saudi authorities pledged to ratify the two international human rights treaties, ensure equality for women, take preventive measures to avoid the indiscriminate use of force in Yemen, limit the application of the death penalty to more serious crimes, and review the articles of the anti-terrorism law that allow incommunicado detention.

The Human Rights Institution affirmed that the international community must follow up on these obligations and ensure their full implementation. The concrete implementation of these procedures is what will ultimately determine whether the Saudi authorities are sincere in their desire for reform or bent on continuing to ignore and even violate the rights of their citizens inside and outside Saudi Arabia.