Amnesty: Obama must tackle human rights abuses in Saudi

President Barack Obama must address Saudi Arabia’s human rights record during his visit to the Kingdom this week, Amnesty International said.

The human rights organisation has called on Obama to appoint a woman as his official driver during his visit to the Kingdom in support of the local campaign calling for an end to the driving ban for women.

“It is crucial that President Obama sends a strong message to the government of Saudi Arabia that its gross human rights violations and systematic discrimination are unacceptable. A failure to do so would undermine the human rights principles the USA purports to stand for,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.

“This is an opportunity for the president to demonstrate that he will stop sacrificing respect for basic human rights, including equality and non-discrimination, for the sake of economic interests and political expedience. ”

President Obama’s visit also comes as Saudi Arabia has stepped up its crackdown on human rights activists and introduced an anti-terror law that virtually criminalises all forms of peaceful dissent.

Human rights defenders in the Kingdom have been harassed, rounded up and imprisoned as the authorities continue to ban peaceful public gatherings and have consistently refuse to pass a law that would enable independent human rights groups to be established. They have also sought to control and block social media.

“President Obama should not travel to the country without pressing Saudi Arabia’s authorities to end their crackdown on freedom of expression, association and assembly, to stamp out the discrimination against women and minorities and halt all forms of torture and other ill-treatment,” Sahraoui said.

The organisation said migrant workers and the country’s Shia Muslim community also face widespread and systematic discrimination which torture and other ill-treatment during detention is rife and carried out with impunity.