Morning Star.png Saudi Regime ‘Wants Britain’s Support for Human Rights Abuse’ Lamiat Sabin, The Morning Star, London, 27 October 2015 Saudi Arabia believes Britain should “keep its mouth shut” over its horrific human rights abuses, a human rights organisation said yesterday after Riyadh’s ambassador warned of a breakdown in relations. Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz said “potentially serious repercussions” were on the horizon due to a lack of “mutual respect.” He singled out Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for having shamed Tory PM David Cameron into cancelling a £5.9 million prison training contract with the Middle Eastern country. Mr Abdulaziz complained that the deal cancellation was the reason for an “alarming change in the way Saudi Arabia is discussed in Britain” — rather than the oil-rich nation’s practice of subjecting alleged criminals to torture, unjust detention and execution. He dismissed the direct link between human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia and the cancellation of the prison training deal as mere “speculation.” Mr Abdulaziz, who made the comments in an article for the Daily Telegraph, wrote that his country would “not be lectured to” by Mr Corbyn and that “political ideologies” must not get in the way of “vital commercial exchanges.” Britain has authorised arms export licences worth around £5.5 billion for Saudi Arabia over the past five years and most of the weaponry is now being used to bomb Yemen. The ambassador added: “We want this relationship to continue, but we will not be lectured to by anyone. Hasty decisions prompted by short-term gains often do more harm than good in the longer term.” Human rights organisation Reprieve, which campaigns on behalf of prisoners being tortured or threatened with execution, criticised the prince for his shameless demand for unwavering approval. Caseworker Kate Higham said: “The Saudi government’s misconceived view seems to be that not only must Britain keep its mouth shut about their horrific abuses, we should also be actively supporting them.” She added: “They need to realise that until they put a stop to the horrific abuses in the kingdom, no country with any respect for human rights will want to go near their ‘justice’ system.” From: <http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-343d-Saudi-regime-wants-Britains-suppo rt-for-human-rights-abuse#.Vi70WLcrK00> http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-343d-Saudi-regime-wants-Britains-suppor t-for-human-rights-abuse#.Vi70WLcrK00 See also: <https://www.rt.com/uk/319728-saudi-corbyn-respect-row/> https://www.rt.com/uk/319728-saudi-corbyn-respect-row/ -- -- NEW!!!! SSN FORUM IS ON FACEBOOK!!!! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Swaziland Solidarity Network Forum Google Group. Visit the group home page at http://groups.google.com/group/sa-swaziland-solidarity-eom-forum for more options, pages and files. To post to the group, send email to sa-swaziland-solidarity-eom-forum@googlegroups.com or reply to this message. To unsubscribe, send email to sa-swaziland-solidarity-eom-forum-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Swaziland Solidarity Network Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sa-swaziland-solidarity-eom-forum+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
