A Courageous and Pro-Democracy Prince

Director’s Comment: In an interview with the Associated Press on 9/4/07, Prince Talal Bin Abdul Aziz who does not hold an official position but is known to be a confidant of King Abdullah, declared that he will form a political party inside Saudi Arabia and ask imprisoned Saudi reformers whom he described as prisoners of conscience to join the party. This is probably the best way to introduce quantifiable and power sharing reforms in Saudi Arabia. As one of the senior princes who is known for his political activism including calling for constitutional monarchy on different occasions and interviews and as a confidant of King, Talal could make a difference.

In our view, Prince Talal is what his ruling family needs to lead them out of their power entrenched occupation with money garbing, in fights and inability to understand that if they don’t change, they might get changed violently. In an interview with the Washington Post on May 14, 2007, Talal lashed out at his autocratic family because of their total control and unwillingness to share power with their disenfranchised people. "Here, the family is the master and the ruler," he said of his brothers and cousins, as he sat at Fakhariya Palace. He went on to argue, “This style can't continue the same way. There has to be change in the nature of authority, if things are going to change in the kingdom itself." In addition Talal, for the first time any family member has ever done, accused some family members of manipulating the national powers. It is assumed he was referring to the staunch opponents of reform- Defense Minister Prince Sultan, Interior Minister Prince Naif and governor of Riyadh, Prince Salman, none of whom has ever supported any political reform in Saudi Arabia.

The Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, located in Washington, calls on the US government to issue a statement to support Prince Talal’s call for establishing a political party to give the Saudi people a say in the decision making processes and control over their destiny. The US and the international community have a stake in democratizing Saudi Arabia and this could be the first and best step to move in that direction. At this point, the Saudi royal family controls all the powers, therefore a peaceful reform can happen and succeed if the Saudi ruling dynasty is willing to share power with its voiceless and oppressed people. This is an opportunity the Bush Administration and members of Congress should encourage publicly and immediately.
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Sending the Wrong Message

Director’s Comment: Saudi Arabia plays a significant role in the lives of 1.2 billion Muslims throughout the world. The country is the birth place of Islam, the home to its two holiest shrines in Mecca and Medina and the source of incredible wealth due to its oil reserves. Consequently, most Muslims look to Saudi Arabia for religious guidance, political weight and financial aid. These realities put the Saudi government in an exceedingly powerful position which it could use constructively to mitigate tension, friction and misunderstanding between Muslims and non-Muslims.

Up until now, the Saudi government policies and practices have not done much to ease religious animosities toward non-Muslims. On the contrary, the Saudi government’s paid religious clerics and institutions paid religious clerics and keep inciting millions of oppressed Muslims against non-Muslims. The Saudi religious fatwas encouraging Muslims to fight infidels in Iraq and Afghanistan have an impact that reaches far beyond these two countries. When King Abdullah announced that Iraq was under “illegal occupation,” in March 2007 at an Arab summit conference in Saudi Arabia, many young Saudi males interpreted the statement to mean “go fight and kill infidel occupiers.” When the Saudi airlines announced on its website that non-Muslims are forbidden to carry their religious items onboard their airplanes, Muslims in general, but especially extremists were given credence to their beliefs that non-Muslims are indeed inferior and their lives are expandable.

Who cares if someone carries his or her religious book, cross, Star of David, pound of pork or religious text on the Saudi airlines? No one stops Saudis from carrying their Qurán, prayer rugs and other religious materials on other peoples’ airlines. The Saudi government and its institutions should start teaching their people that in the age of globalization, economic interdependence and uneasy Muslim and non-Muslim relations, their best interests and security of their country will be protected only by changing their condescending treatment of non-Muslims. If not, the Saudi people will find themselves isolated by the international community. As a visionary and courageous Saudi reporter said recently, “When human rights organizations criticize us, we get offended and immediately go on the defensive. What we should do is listen to what they are saying and accept that something may be wrong and that we need to solve the problem instead of denying its existence.” The Saudis should pay less attention to the messenger and more to the message.
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The Plight of Expatriate Maids Continues

Director’s Comment: Despite protests by groups like The Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and, more importantly, by courageous Saudi journalists, barbaric treatment of poverty stricken and defenseless Asian women maids continues unabated in Saudi homes and royal palaces. This is due to a range of demeaning, primitive and ungodly factors. The victims are mostly women and since women in Saudi Arabia are discriminated against by the Saudi political, judicial, religious, social, economic and educational institutions, torturing, killing and raping women are not considered crimes of the highest order. This is particularly true if they are poor and defenseless expatriates Asians.

Recently, a son of an employer (master) bludgeoned four Indonesian maids until two of them died and the other two torture victims were treated and then taken to a police interrogation center to find out whether their employer’s vicious crime is justified. .The unfortunate four maids were accused of practicing magic, which under the Saudi mixture of arbitrary judicial and government laws are considered un-Islamic. Even though many of the Asian maids are Muslims, they are frowned upon because they are more open minded, tolerant and accepting of non-Muslims than the Saudi religious extremists approve of.

The disheartening aspect of these real and continuing abuses and exploitations of the Asian maids and expatriates in general are well known to the governments of their native countries, the international community, especially the US Embassy and its consulates in Saudi Arabia, and no one seems to have the moral courage to publicly condemn the counting brutality against innocent people whose crime is to work 17 to 18 hours a day seven days a week to earn meager income to feed their starving families back in their home lands. The US and all democratic governments should not compromise their constitutional and moral values to appease autocratic ruling elites who have demonstrated utter disrespect for agreed upon and practiced international declarations to protect the rights of workers, indigenous or expatriates.
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Crippling Censorship

Director’s Comment: The Saudi government maintains a severe censorship policy of denying its people the right to know what is being done and carried out in their names. Most Saudis know from one source or another that the name of their country has become synonymous with the financing of extremist groups and schools, suicide bombers and support for governments and groups who oppress their people, especially women and religious minorities. Why then continue its notorious policies of punishing any one or news outlets for reporting what is public knowledge? The answer is because it’s easier for tyrannical regimes to maintain tight control over their peoples’ minds, intellect and ways of thinking. Saudi Arabia remains one of the most censored societies on earth. These Orwellian laws pose real dangers for the Saudi people and the international community. Because of its religious centrality and oil reserves, Saudi Arabia plays major roles in human lives domestically, regionally and globally. The countr y needs and deserves a better and more enlightened political structure that encourages its citizens to reach out to the people of the world and become contributing members to the well-being of the international community.
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