Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, CDHR, Washington DC

November 3, 2017

Women can Democratize and Save Saudi Arabia, Prince Mohammed Operates Extemporaneously

Prince Mohammed bin Salman Misspoke About Religious Tolerance

 CDHR Commentary: In a speech to potential investors in the Saudi capital, Riyadh on October 24, 2017, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “pledged” to return to the era when the population of Arabia consisted of Jews, Christians and pagans who practiced their beliefs and rituals freely 14 ½ centuries ago.  He declared, ‘We are returning to what we were before — a country of moderate Islam that is open to all religions and to the world.’ Continue reading: www.cdhr.info

Saudi Women Allowed in Sports’ Arenas

CDHR Commentary: There’s no one to thank for this too little too late embryonic step other than the Saudi women's courage to defy chauvinism, extremism, misogyny and men’s inferiority complex. God bless Saudi women and the liberating social media, the creation of the “infidels,” a draconian phrase generations of Saudi power-wielders have us ed to maintain total control over every aspect of the population’s lives, livelihood, movements and thinking. Continue reading: www.cdhr.info

Saudi Women Can Save And Democratize Saudi Arabia

CDHR Commentary: The Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, CDHR, has been inundated with inquiries about the reasons behind King Salman’s decree to allow women to drive and “why wait another nine months instead of now?” The reasons are many and nine months is the time it will take the regime to work out plans that will ensure  ;permitting women to drive will benefit the king and his sons and  compensate for erosion in their power-base due to increasing defections among powerful clerics and their followers. This is also a deflective tactic by the regime to divert people’s attention from their current economic hardships caused by dwindling revenues, rampant corruption and increases in expenditures for arms procurement and external conflicts. Continue reading: www.cdhr.info

Saudi Women: Fighting Injustice and Challenging Extremists 

CDHR Commentary: Ensaf Haidar, like many brave Saudi women such as Eman AlNafjan, Huwaider, Loujain, Maysaa Al-Amoudi, Souad Al-Shammary and Manal al-Sharif, just to name a few, are in the forefront in the fight against political, religious and social injustice, inequality and intolerance in Saudi Arabia. Most of them have been imprisoned, stigmatized, exiled, denied opportunities and accused of being sacrilegious and brainwashed by the Western “debauched” way of life (i.e., freedom of expression.) And worst of all, they have been accused of being threats to the country’s stability, security and society’s cohesiveness. These are pejorative catchphrases the system uses to justify its policies of oppression. Saudi women have been targeted by the Saudi ferocious Wahhabi dogmatist institutions and its harsh Shariah laws for centuries. Continue reading: www.cdhr.info

Jihadis Do Not Prepare for Victory, But for Actions After Setbacks

CDHR Commentary: Destroying their infrastructure, annihilating many of their members and uprooting known ISIS Jihadis from Iraq and Syria seem to create more anxieties than celebration in many parts of the world, including the US Congress. Even though the reactions are mixed, no one expressed victory over expelling ISIS from its entrenched positions in Iraq and Syria.  The nerves reactions by many observers and decision-makers are based on historical precedence. Well-organized and funded major Muslim Jihadi groups, like ISIS, Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, have demonstrated their survival elasticity. They know that they are no match for powerful states’ mechanized armed forces, thus they plan in advance where to go and what to do when they’re defeated militarily.  Continue reading: www.cdhr.info

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Mission Statement

The Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia (CDHR) is a (501) (c)3 non-profit educational organization established in 2004 to promote peaceful, institutionalized political enfranchisement and human rights reforms to stabilize Saudi Arabia -- a key U.S. strategic ally and a major actor in the turbulent and volatile Gulf Arab region which supplies a large portion of energy sources important to the economies of trading partners and allies of the United States.  Such reforms would: allow greater development of the capacities of all Saudi citizens; endow them with the liberties and rights enjoyed by citizens in Western and other democratic societies; and eliminate the export from Saudi Arabia of intolerant and destructive ideologies which lead to devastating attacks on persons and institutions in other nations of the world. CDHR believes that achieving true stability in Saudi Arabia through these reforms is vital to U.S. strategic interests in the Middle East -- encompassing national security, economic, and geopolitical components. CDHR is apolitical, non-sectarian, and does not engage in lobbying activities.

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