Category: Saudi Arabia

Ten years 1,000 lashes sentence upheld for Saudi blogger

9/6/2015

Secretary of State John Kerry with King Salman of Saudi Arabia

In spite of a loud global outcry from many countries in support of Saudi liberal blogger Ralf Badawi the harsh sentence of 10 years and 1,000 lashes was upheld by the Saudi Supreme Court.

Badawi's offence was "Insulting Islam through electronic channels". He was arrested for the offence back in 2012. He also was fined the equivalent of $266,000. He was also charged with "promoting liberal thought" and "going beyond the realm of obedience" through suggestions that Saudi Arabia should become more democratic.

Badawi had run the Liberal Saudi Network which encouraged debate on line debate about religious and political issues. Global protests following the first round of 50 lashes in January moved Saudi authorities to send the case to the Supreme Court for Review. Subsequent lashings had been postponed. A medical report stated that he was not fit for further lashings. In March, the kingdom expressed its surprise and dismay at foreign reaction and rejected foreign interference in its internal affairs.

Badawi's wife Ensaf Haidar and thee children are in Canada after escaping Saudi Arabia in 2012. She lives in Sherbrooke Quebec. She said after the announcement of the Supreme Court decision that it was a very difficult day for her. She was told that the lashes would begin again on Friday.

The Canadian federal government says it considers the Badawi case a violation of human dignity and has asked for clemency. The Quebec provincial government has been even more vehement in its criticism of the Saudi punishment.

The Quebec premier, Philippe Couillard, did not back down on its opposition and torture of Badawi even though Naif Al-Sudairy sent a letter to the Quebec National Assembly telling it not to meddle in Saudi internal affairs or criticize the country's human rights record.

Part of the letter sent on March 10 read: "The Kingdom does not accept at all any attack on it in the name of human rights, especially when its constitution is based on Islamic law, which guarantees human rights (sic)."

In February the Quebec National Assembly passed a motion that condemned the whipping of Badawi and expressed support for his wife and three children who are living in Quebec.

Additional Sources:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/raif-badawi-prison-sentence-lashes-upheld-by-saudi-court-1.3103717
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/saudi-arabia-to-quebec-stay-out-of-raif-badawi-case-1.3017014

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Egypt and Russia strengthen relations

1/4/2015

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Egyptian president el-Sisi

Op-Ed: President el-Sisi came to power in Egypt after leading a coup that overthrew former president Morsi. He later was elected president.

Throughout this period, Putin gave strong support for Sisi. Since then, relations between the two countries have strengthened.

In 2014 Russia and Egypt signed a $3.5 billion arms deal. Recently, the two countries signed a further military cooperation agreement that will see Egyptian officers and troops trained in Russian military academies. Putin also had a successful visit to Cairo back in February this year.

These moves by Egypt will provide the Egyptian government more leverage in dealing with the US which provides not only substantial military aid to Egypt but also trains many of its armed forces. In response to Egypt's horrible human rights record and suppression of opposition, the US had suspended some military aid. Egypt's response was to show the US that it could also find military aid elsewhere.

The US counter-move was announced by Obama just yesterday. He is renewing all suspended aid to Egypt. Egypt will now receive $1.3 billion in aid that was suspended after the overthrow of elected president Morsi and the subsequent crackdown on opposition.

The situation in Egypt has not changed in terms of the crackdown but no doubt the Russian aid showed the US that it was not a good idea to try to use arms aid as leverage to improve the political situation within Egypt.

The announced reason for the change in policy is the typical one that can justify anything these days, the danger of the Islamic State. The problem is that Sisi supports General Haftar in Libya. Haftar is armed forces commander of the internationally-recognized Tobruk government.

Haftar is battling not just the Islamic State but the competing government based in Tripoli which is also being attacked by the Islamic State. In other words, SIsi can use his weapons to turn the tide in Haftar's battle to retake territory from the Tripoli government.

The US and other western countries have supported the UN peace process. Haftar has sabotaged the process whenever he could. With renewed arms supplied by Egypt ostensibly to help fight the Islamic State, Haftar can carry out his mission to defeat the forces of the competing government in Tripoli.

With the release of the suspended military aid to Egypt, Sisi will receive 12 F-16 fighter jets, replacements kits for 125 Abrams tanks, 20 Harpoon missiles, and the $1.3 billion that had been suspended.

Egypt's improving relationships with Russia have also caused some tension with Saudi Arabia although on many issues such as military action against Yemen the two agree completely. At the Arab League meeting in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el_Sheik, the two states however disagreed on the issue of Syria. Sisi urged a political solution to the conflict. Saudi Arabia insists that Assad must go, but el-Sisi stressed the need to battle terrorism and prevent the collapse of Syrian state institutions.

He is planning to host a conference of the Syrian opposition to form a unified political position on talks. This is the type of action that Russia would prefer as well.

While Egypt does not outright give support for Assad, an Egyptian official told AP that the Assad regime "must be part of the negotiations and the transitional period." The opposition members who would agree to this are no doubt few in number and any political agreement might have very little effect on the battles taking place in Syria. The tightly controlled press in Egypt and Saudi Arabia lambasted each other for their respective positions on Syria.

Egypt is obviously trying to develop its own more independent foreign policy that is distressing not just to the US but US ally Saudi Arabia as well.

Sources:
http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_306481/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=DjjE3NsH
http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-and-egypt-military-agreement-2015-3
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/02/moscow-cairo-relations-sisi-putin-egypt-visit.html
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/31/obama-restores-us-military-aid-to-egypt
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/how-to-judge-putins-trip-to-egypt

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Saudi Arabia attacks Yemen

26/3/2015

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Flag of Saudi Arabia

The Saudi Arabian ambassador to the US, Adel al-Jubair, says that his country has started airstrikes against the Houthi Shia rebels who drove out the US-backed, President Mansour Hadi, and set up their own government in the capital Sanaa.

The Houthis control the north part of the country and had been advancing to the south. They took the airport in the third largest city Taiz just the other day and were advancing toward the southern port of Aden where Hadi has taken refuge.

Al Jubair announced: "The kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its GCC allies and its allies outside of the GCC have decided to respond to the requests of the legitimate president of Yemen [Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi ]". He said that Saudi Arabia would do anything necessary to protect the people of Yemen He claimed that a coalition of 10 countries including the Gulf Cooperation Council(GCC) had begun the strikes. Positions in Sanaa have been bombed according to reports, with many casualties claimed.

Hadi was originally vice-president under former president Ali Saleh. The GCC brokered a deal for Saleh to give up power in return for immunity from prosecution for crimes against protesters a number of whom were killed by security forces, Hadi was later elected president but was the only candidate. He is the choice of Saudi Arabia and the GCC and a staunch ally of the US.Together with former president Saleh who still has considerable power within the armed forces, the Houthi were able to control much of the north including the capital Sanaa.

When Hadi and others in talks brokered by the UN failed to negotiate a government acceptable to the Houthis, they seized power and have been setting up their own government. Hadi was able to flee from house arrest to Aden but he was driven out of his retreat although he is still in the Aden area. He has been desperately seeking help from other countries and the UN.

For several days Saudi Arabia had been moving heavy military equipment including artillery near the border with Yemen. The Saudis are very concerned about successful advances of the Houthis who have the support of Iran. However, they also have the support of former president Saleh and a considerable number of the armed forces. The Saudis and GCC will not likely be able to simply march in and restore the rule of their favorite, Hadi , as they were able to do to control Houthi protests against the Bahraini ruler in Bahrain. The Saudi action could very well create significant protests in the eastern provinces of Saudi Arabia site of significant oil resources and with Shiite majorities.

The US has evacuated its special forces from Yemen as Al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP) advanced close to their base. AQAP has allied with Sunni tribes in some areas to check the advance of the Houthis. The US has not been involved in the operations although until recently they continued carrying out drone strikes against AQAP. Suicide attacks in two Sanaa mosques that killed at least 137 people and wounded another 345 were claimed to be the work of the Islamic State. The Saudi incursion may be quite costly to them if they send in ground forces. Instead of working for a political solution the Saudis will simply add another dimension of violence and create a wider civil war.

Additional Sources:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2015/03/saudi-ambassador-announces-military-operation-yemen-150325234138956.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/24/saudi-arabia-military-yemen_n_6935702.html
http://rt.com/news/244117-saudi-arabia-bombs-yemen-houthis/

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Ten years 1,000 lashes sentence upheld for Saudi blogger

Egypt and Russia strengthen relations

Saudi Arabia attacks Yemen

Ken Hanly

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Ten years 1,000 lashes sentence upheld for Saudi blogger

E﻿gypt and Russia strengthen relations

Saudi Arabia attacks Yemen﻿

Ken Hanly

Archives

Categories

Egypt and Russia strengthen relations

Saudi Arabia attacks Yemen