Saudi Atrocities Go Unnoticed
By Chris Ernesto
April 07, 2015 "ICH"
- "Antiwar"
- In December 2011, the United States
sold $30 billion worth of weapons to the monarchy of Saudi Arabia. Included
in the sale were 84 F-15 fighter jets, which are now “at
the core” of the Saudi war in Yemen.This fact, and
numerous others about the Kingdom have received scant attention from proponents
of the Saudi attack on Yemen.
Here’s a look at five things about Saudi Arabia that US
officials and the establishment media are neglecting to talk about as Saudi
bombs continue to drop on the people of Yemen with the support of the United
States:
- Sharia Law runs the country.
- Saudi Arabia is an authoritarian dictatorship: There are
no national elections, no parties, and no rights.
- People are publicly beheaded in the Kingdom.
- Human rights for Saudi women are among the worst in the
world.
- The monarchy is a cash machine for terrorists.
1. Sharia Law runs the country
The following quotes are directly from Saudi Arabia’s
Basic Law of Governance:
- “The King shall rule the nation according to the Sharia.”
- “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a sovereign Arab Islamic
State. Its religion is Islam. Its constitution is Almighty God’s Book, The
Holy Qur’an…”
- “Monarchy is the system of rule in the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia. Rulers of the country shall be from amongst the sons of the founder
King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al-Faisal Al-Saud, and their descendants.”
- “The Courts shall apply rules of the Islamic Sharia in
cases that are brought before them.”
- “The aim of education is to implant the Islamic Creed in
the hearts of all youths.”
“The Hanbali school, Islam’s most orthodox which spawned the
Wahhabi and Salafi branches, is embraced in Saudi Arabia and by the Taliban,”
according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
2. Saudi Arabia is an authoritarian dictatorship: There are
no national elections, no parties, and no rights
On January 27, 2015,
RT reported,
“There are no national elections, no parties, and no parliament – only a
symbolic advisory chamber, known as Majlis al-Shura. Criticism is strictly
forbidden: only last year, prominent opposition activist Abd al-Kareem al-Khoder
joined hundreds of the country’s political prisoners, when he was sentenced to
eight years for demanding the changeover to a constitutional monarchy. Just days
before King Abdullah’s death, blogger Raif Badawi was given the first 50 of his
1,000 lashes – for calling for free speech on his blog.”
“Saudi Arabia’s infamous religious police are employees of the
Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. Their job
includes ensuring that men and women do not mix socially, that people do not
dress immodestly and that businesses close during prayer time,”
wrote Adam Taylor of the Washington Post.
Saudi Arabia was rated as “not free” and was given the lowest
possible score in a January 2015
report by Freedom House, a nongovernmental organization that tracks human
rights.
Also in January, Human Rights Watch published a report
stating that, “Saudi Arabia imprisoned … activists on broad, catch-all
charges designed to criminalize peaceful dissent, such as breaking allegiance
with the ruler and setting up an unlicensed organization.”
And last month, the Islamic Human Rights Commission
reported that there are an estimated 30,000 political prisoners in Saudi
Arabia.
3. People are publicly beheaded in the Kingdom
Saudi Arabian courts “continued to use corporal punishment as
a judicial penalty, including floggings and amputation, as well as public
execution by beheading,”
according to
a 2012 US State Department report.
In 2013, Amnesty International
condemned the “disturbing” rise in Saudi executions, including public
beheadings and the practice of crucifixion, which “refers to the court-ordered
public display of the body after execution, along with the separated head if
beheaded.” There were at least 79 executions in 2013, according to Amnesty.
The Kingdom publicly beheaded 19 people in the first half of
August 2014 for offenses that ranged from
drug smuggling to sorcery.
Included was Mohammed bin Bakr al-Alawi who was beheaded for
allegedly practicing black magic sorcery, the Saudi Gazette
reported. Another Saudi man was
beheaded in
2012 for “sorcery and witchcraft.”
4. Human rights for Saudi women are among the worst in the
world
Woman are not allowed “to leave the
house, make a purchase, sign any legal document – in fact perform almost any
official action, from agreeing to surgery, to signing up to a class – without
the consent of a guardian, either the husband or the father.”
“Yet, even these suffocating measures give only scant
impression of the status of Saudi women in a society where even their court
testimony is worth half of that of a man,” RT reported.
There are
many other things women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to do, including:
- Drive a car
- Go for a swim
- Compete freely in sports
- Try on clothes when shopping
- Enter a cemetery
- Read an uncensored fashion magazine
According to the 2013 World Report by
Human Rights Watch, “punishment for domestic violence remain[s] lax [in Saudi
Arabia.] The government failed to enact a 2011 draft law to combat violence
against women and children. In May, Jeddah’s Summary Court convicted a man for
physically abusing his wife to the point of hospitalization, but sentenced him
to learning by heart five parts of the Qur’an and 100 sayings of the Prophet
Muhammad.”
In 2014, the World Economics Forum
ranked Saudi Arabia 130 out of 142 countries in its annual report on gender
equality.
5. The monarchy is a cash machine for terrorists
In a 2009 secret paper
released by
WikiLeaks, Hillary Clinton said, "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, LeT and other terrorist groups."
“Saudi Arabia, and the other Sunni countries in the Middle
East, have been financially and morally supporting the growing and evolving
Sunni insurgency against Shias in the region for years. They have intentionally
bankrolled groups whose mission it is to wipe out the Shia minority in the
region. First they started with al-Qaeda, and then they bankrolled what became
ISIS,”
wrote Thom Hartmann, although the Saudis vehemently deny support of ISIS.
The Atlantic
reported in June 2014, the success of ISIS “is in part due to the support
they have received from two Persian Gulf countries: Qatar and Saudi Arabia,”
though there remains much debate about whether or not the Kingdom is in fact
supporting ISIS.
Why isn’t Washington being transparent?
If the United States chooses to support, and provide weapons
to an un-elected Saudi government that is among the world’s worst human rights
violators, it should at least do so transparently.
Would the people of the United States go along with the Saudi
attacks in Yemen if it knew how the Saudi monarchy operates?
Chris Ernesto is co-founder of
St. Pete for Peace, an antiwar
organization in St. Petersburg, FL that has been active since 2003. Mr. Ernesto
also created and manages OccupyArrests.com
and USinAfrica.com.