Abdullah al-Shammari was scheduled to be executed shortly after this month's Eid al-Adha, the Muslim Holiday of the Sacrifice, but King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia decided to grant him a reprieve and study his case.
Is Saudi Arabia backsliding on human rights, and backtracking on reform, since ‘Abdallah acceded to the throne in August 2005? Evidence collected by Human Rights Watch suggests the answer is yes.
DURING our last visit in March 2008 to Riyadh, we talked with a Sri Lankan woman in her fifties who worked as a housemaid. She told us that she was returning home, because her mother was dying. A year earlier, she had come to Saudi Arabia as a domestic worker after her husband had died in the 2004 tsunami, and her house and life savings were washed away. Her salary as a schoolteacher was insufficient to support her two sons in university.
Returning from a visit to Saudi Arabia, Foreign Secretary David Miliband describes in his blog his experience of a Saudi programme to turn terrorism suspects off violence. Miliband clearly thinks it is a good thing. But his account is incomplete in one important way: the programme is hardly voluntary, and the estimated 1,500-2,000 detainees being re-educated have been detained often for over three years without charge or trial or other legal process.
Though Saudi officials pay lip service to the rule of law, this is difficult to reconcile with reality. Arbitrary arrests and unfair trials characterize the fate of those who enter the system
The Saudi Arabian National Society for Human Rights recently published a bill of rights for people infected with HIV. The 16 articles in the bill seek to protect the rights of those living with HIV while advancing the kingdom's response to the epidemic. However, on closer examination, the bill comprises repressive restrictions that trample upon the rights of people living with HIV and can only hinder an effective response to the epidemic.
There are important strategic issues on the agenda for King Abdullah's visit to the UK next week: the Middle East peace process, energy security, terrorism and bilateral commercial relations. But what about good governance and human rights?
At a recent economic forum in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, officials wowed foreign visitors with glitzy displays of a "changed" kingdom. Minister of Information Iyad al-Madani surprised everyone when he urged Saudi women to apply for driving licenses; the forum sponsor, the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, sent shock waves through the country by electing two Saudi women to its board. Later, a display at the Riyadh International Book Fair included a Bible for the first time.
In the wake of the attacks against civilians in Saudi Arabia, the kingdom’s rulers pledged to make foreigners and citizens safe from terror. But there is another campaign that needs to be fought with similar vigour, against the exploitation and abuse of millions of foreign workers.
Back in 2006, Israel's profligate use of cluster munitions in Lebanon caught the public eye, nowhere more so than in the Arab world.
Abdullah al-Shammari was scheduled to be executed shortly after this month's Eid al-Adha, the Muslim Holiday of the Sacrifice, but King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia decided to grant him a reprieve and study his case.
Is Saudi Arabia backsliding on human rights, and backtracking on reform, since ‘Abdallah acceded to the throne in August 2005? Evidence collected by Human Rights Watch suggests the answer is yes.
DURING our last visit in March 2008 to Riyadh, we talked with a Sri Lankan woman in her fifties who worked as a housemaid. She told us that she was returning home, because her mother was dying. A year earlier, she had come to Saudi Arabia as a domestic worker after her husband had died in the 2004 tsunami, and her house and life savings were washed away. Her salary as a schoolteacher was insufficient to support her two sons in university.
Returning from a visit to Saudi Arabia, Foreign Secretary David Miliband describes in his blog his experience of a Saudi programme to turn terrorism suspects off violence. Miliband clearly thinks it is a good thing. But his account is incomplete in one important way: the programme is hardly voluntary, and the estimated 1,500-2,000 detainees being re-educated have been detained often for over three years without charge or trial or other legal process.
Though Saudi officials pay lip service to the rule of law, this is difficult to reconcile with reality. Arbitrary arrests and unfair trials characterize the fate of those who enter the system
The Saudi Arabian National Society for Human Rights recently published a bill of rights for people infected with HIV. The 16 articles in the bill seek to protect the rights of those living with HIV while advancing the kingdom's response to the epidemic. However, on closer examination, the bill comprises repressive restrictions that trample upon the rights of people living with HIV and can only hinder an effective response to the epidemic.
There are important strategic issues on the agenda for King Abdullah's visit to the UK next week: the Middle East peace process, energy security, terrorism and bilateral commercial relations. But what about good governance and human rights?
At a recent economic forum in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, officials wowed foreign visitors with glitzy displays of a "changed" kingdom. Minister of Information Iyad al-Madani surprised everyone when he urged Saudi women to apply for driving licenses; the forum sponsor, the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, sent shock waves through the country by electing two Saudi women to its board. Later, a display at the Riyadh International Book Fair included a Bible for the first time.
In the wake of the attacks against civilians in Saudi Arabia, the kingdom’s rulers pledged to make foreigners and citizens safe from terror. But there is another campaign that needs to be fought with similar vigour, against the exploitation and abuse of millions of foreign workers.