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In a few days, Saudi Arabia will host the virtual G20 summit. Now, human rights activists are criticizing the government on the only feigned will to reform Riyadh. Activists were in prison, people disappeared due to critical tweets and peaceful protesters were executed, said Chalid Ibrahim, director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR). “There is no real will for change in the ruling family. It is propaganda for international use, ”Ibrahim told the dpa news agency.
The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Adel al-Jubair, rejected outside interference in Saudi human rights issues. “You have your laws, we have our laws,” he said, referring to the death penalty. Saudi Arabia has one of the lowest crime rates in the world, and that has something to do with deterrence. “We will not change our laws because someone says: We don’t like their laws,” Al-Jubair said. “If we came to Germany and said that alcohol should not be sold in hotels because it is prohibited in Saudi Arabia, would that be accepted here? Of course, no.”
This year’s G20 summit on Saturday and Sunday will be chaired by Saudi Arabia. Due to the corona pandemic, the two-day meeting of heads of state and government will only take place virtually and not in Riyadh as planned. The group includes the 19 largest industrialized and emerging countries, as well as the EU. These represent almost two-thirds of the world’s population and 85 percent of the world’s economic output. The main topic of the talks is likely to be the effects of the pandemic.
184 public executions in 2019
Human rights activist Ibrahim described the fact that the summit will be chaired by Saudi Arabia despite the poor human rights situation as “very sad”. For example, it is still unclear what happened to the body of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was critical of the government, who was brutally assassinated by a special command from Riyadh in 2018 at the Consulate General in Istanbul. According to Ibrahim, there are an estimated “thousands” of political prisoners in Saudi Arabia.
The human rights organization Amnesty International also speaks before the G20 summit of a “hypocritical treatment of women’s rights” in the ultra-conservative desert state. According to an investigation by Amnesty International, 184 people were found in Saudi Arabia last yearnorth partially publicly executed.
Many activists arrested
Although the advancement of women is at the top of the G20 agenda this year, numerous activists are in jail or facing legal proceedings, Amnesty said. The women’s rights activists Ludschain al-Hathlul, Nassima al-Sada, Samar Badawi and others must be released immediately.
Amnesty also points to the “expensive public relations” that the Saudi authorities have tried to improve their reputation in recent years. The aim was also to portray Crown Prince Mohammed as “progressive and ready to reform”, for example by abolishing the driving ban for women in June 2018, which was also celebrated abroad. However, a few weeks earlier, many of the better-known supporters had been arrested and jailed. Some of them have been tortured, ill-treated or held in solitary confinement, Amnesty International said.
