Center for Democracy & Human Rights in Saudi Arabia Newsletter

Center for Democracy & Human Rights in Saudi Arabia Newsletter Message

2023-05-22T08:02:43Z

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

May 22, 2023

Alarm Over 'imminent executions' / Saudi/Iranian Rapprochement

CDHR’s Analysis and Commentaries

CDHR Commentary: The UN Human Rights Council implored Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) to spare the lives of Saudi tribesmen who contested his expulsion order to throw them out of their centuries-old habitat to make room for his futuristic project, NEOM. MBS’s ordering expulsion of the Howeitat tribe, incarcerating some of them, and sentencing some to death is triggered by more than making room for his dream city. Like all members of the Saudi ruling clan, MBS believes the country belongs to his autocratic ruling family exclusively, as publicly stated by former Interior Minister Prince Naif, ‘What we won by the sword, we will keep by the sword. MBS’s draconian policy of intimidating citizens and instilling intense fear of his ruthlessness is neither new nor unexpected, given his reliance on brutality since he was entrusted with all state powers shortly after the Salmans (king and sons) inherited the throne in 2015. Read More »

Saudi/Iranian Rapprochement: Motives and Implications

CDHR Analysis: The recent Chinese-brokered rapprochement between the Saudi autocracy and Iranian theocracy has sparked guarded optimism and skepticism in the Middle East and beyond. Interpretations of this rapprochement by analysts and interest groups vary. They focus on whether the agreement will survive, who benefits and who loses, depending on their interests and knowledge of the parties’ tainted histories. One aspect of the agreement analysts have ignored is the inevitable detrimental fallout of the rapprochement on the Iranian and Saudi people, many of whom are striving for freedom. Read More »

Center for Democracy & Human Rights in Saudi Arabia Newsletter Message

2022-10-03T07:53:31Z

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

September 2022

CDHR’s Analysis: MBS & Techniques of Intimidation

MBS: Rewriting History & Intensifying Repression

CDHR Analysis: Emboldened by the economic fallout of the pandemic, closer ties with Putin and western democracies’ acquiescence in the face of MBS’s brutal domestic and regional policies, the Salmans’ (King and four sons) courts are handing down vindictive prison sentences against women’s rights advocates for using social media, the only tool available to Saudis to highlight the regime’s malevolence. While increasing such domestic repression, MBS is bolstering his father’s lifelong objective, reinforcing his belief and practice that Saudi Arabia has been and will always be owned and controlled by the Al-Saud’s absolute oligarchy. A case in point and as a reminder is the revival of Diriyah.

As this and a wily marketing spin by one of the Saudi oligarchy’s staunch propagandists demonstrate, King Salman and son MBS are spending $50 billion to restore Diriyah, the 1744 birthplace of the tyrannical Saudi/Wahhabi subjugating movement. According to Diriyah’s project overseer, Jerry Inzerillo, who boasted about spending ‘abundant personal time’ with Prince Mohammed following Khashoggi’s murder, developing Diriyah will make it the envy of the world’s tourist destinations. Continue reading: www.cdhr.info

MBS: Masquerading Perpetual Despotism in Fantasy Projects

CDHR Analysis: The cost to the Saudi people of King Salman’s and sons’, particularly Crown Prince Mohammed’s (MBS,) seven year rule can best be described as 7 years of unprecedented political repression and severe economic hardships. Contrary to many prominent Western and Saudi government controlled media, as well as an assemblage of powerful lobbyists’ superfluous exaltations of MBS’s so cial initiatives and fantasy (“transformational”) economic projects, the politically disenfranchised population is worse off today than they were before the Salmans inherited the throne in January 2015. Granted, removing the system’s humiliating social aberrations, such as the ban on women’s right to drive, is a plus, but replacing them with unprecedented political suppression and economic punishments can hardly be considered a celebrative historical event, as has been glorified by those who don’t have to pay the political and economic price the Saudi people are commanded to shoulder now and for the foreseeable future.

MBS And Biden’s Conundrum

CDHR Commentary: The minute the White House hinted that President Biden will travel to the Middle East, specifically to Saudi Arabia, a concoction (pros and cons) of domestic and global media commentaries, analyses, unsolicited advice, and recommendations began to counsel President Biden what to do or not when he meets Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, MBS. Except for genuine human rights and democracy advocates, most of those advocating that President Biden embrace MBS are traditional beneficiaries of Saudi hand-outs, recipient institutions of Saudi largess, and a multitude of businesses and lobbyist entities, like this (just to name a few.) The contradictory discourse about President Biden’s pending visit to Saudi Arabia is predictable. Those who patronizingly urge him to retract his campaign promise to recalibrate the mercurial US/Saudi transactional relationship (access to cheap oil in exchange for security) and to absolve the de facto Saudi ruler MBS of his ruthless misdeeds are overlooking developments of major consequence.

MBS: “Four Weapons of Totalitarianism” in Action

CDHR Commentary: Soon after President Biden’s more than embarrassing visit to Saudi Arabia in July 2022 and a chastening lecture by MBS about America’s human rights double standard, the Saudi courts sentenced a Leeds University scientist and Ph. D. candidate, Salma al-Shehab to a total of 68 years, 34 imprisonment and 34 travel ban. She is 34 years old. Following Biden’s visit, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) embarked on a business trip to Greece and France where he signed lucrative energy deals.

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Center for Democracy & Human Rights in Saudi Arabia Newsletter Message

2022-01-06T11:20:27Z

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

January 5, 2022

CDHR’s Analysis And Commentaries

Is Ending The Yemen War in the Making?

CDHR Analysis: Revalidated and reassured by French President Macron’s moral collapse and acrimonious strategic objective to replace the U.S. as a major arms dealer and defender of the Saudi de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and his like-minded Gulf allies, MBS embarked on a swift tour of the GCC states on December 6 to remind its ruling monocracies that he remains regionally and globally the Gulf’s top influencer, as demonstrated by President Macron’s visit and glorification of the Saudis’ regional influence. Prior to his hasty one day tour, MBS publicly implored the gulf rulers, the U.S. and the EU governments to help him fend off the Houthi rebels’ missile attacks. He proclaimed that he is running out of ammunition to intercept the increasingly accurate missile assaults on the Saudi kingdom. Did MBS’s admission prior to his tour to meet with the GCC five heads of state just a few days before they assembled in the Saudi capital for their 42nd summit on December 14, suggest he realized that he has no choice but to end the war in Yemen just as he ended the blockade of Qatar when he failed to bring the Qataris to their knees? Full analysis: www.cdhr.info

MBS’s public declaration of his inability to defend the kingdom against the Houthi missiles without a massive supply of missile interceptors, followed by an inexplicable trip to meet with the GCC heads of state suggest that he is exploring ways to bring the increasingly divisive and costly war to an end. Given MBS’s unpredictable mood-swings and impulsive decisions, it’s likely that he wanted to feel the pulse of the GCC rulers and seek their support for a new approach to end th e war in Yemen before they congregate in Riyadh for their summit over which his hard-line father presides. For full analysis: www.cdhr.info

Costly Consequences of the Catastrophic Yemen War

CDHR Commentary: After conducting deadly air strikes against the Yemeni Houthi rebels recently in and around Sanaa, the ancient walled-capital of Yemen, Brig. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki, the spokesman for the Saudi-led Arab Coalition, “Warns of ‘Wider, More Comprehensive’ Strikes” in other parts of Yemen. The General should be reminded that this is what the failed overwhelming Saudi, Egyptian, Sudani and Emirati ( UAE) hi-tech air and mercenary-like ground forces have been conducting in Yemen since March 2015. The coalition’s forces have nothing to show for their cruelty other than devastation of the Yemeni infrastructure, impoverishment, starvation and displacement of countless numbers of its 26 million population, as well as emboldenment of Al-Qaeda, ISIS and their local and foreign like-minded groups. More death and destruction won’t bring the Yemenis to their knees, transform them into “better and submissive” neighbors or secure Saudi border cities, towns and villages, many of whose residents have been killed and their properties destroyed by the fierce retaliating Yemeni Houthi forces. Full analysis: www.cdhr.info

Saudi Oligarchs are no Longer Pariahs?

CDHR Commentary: Three years ago (Oct. 2018,) Saudi critic and promoter of free expression, Jamal Khashoggi, was lured to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, where he was bone-sawed by a team of the Saudi rulers’ assassins. That ruinous event exposed the Saudi oligarchs for what they are known to be, ruthless tyrants. “As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden promised to make a pariah out of Saudi Arab ia over the 2018 killing of dissident Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi…” As President, Biden discovered that this was easier said than done, to the disappointment of those who had hoped that he would stand up for American democratic values, upon which his predecessor trampled. Full analysis: www.cdhr.info

Pernicious Effect of the Taliban’s Victory on Saudi Society

CDHR Commentary: The primary recipients of the Taliban’s ideological and political brutality will be the people of Afghanistan, especially women and religious minorities, but other Muslim societies will directly or indirectly be affected. Historically, Muslim societies (especially Arab societies) have shared varying levels of embedded impeding traditions: misogyny and religious intolerance, both of which the Taliban brazenly practice. There are millions of influential and Taliban like-minded segments in all Arab and Muslim socieits who see the Taliban’s victory as an endorsement of their toxic zealotry. One Muslim society that will be subject to pestilent fallout of the Taliban triumph is Saudi society, particularly women, religious minorities, human rights activists, advocates of political participation and freedom of expression, as well as outspoken clerics. Full analysis: www.cdhr.info

THE American Retreat from Afghanistan

By Colonel David Cade (Ret. Air Force) Member of CDHR Board of Directors

The American withdrawal from Afghanistan will have negative repercussions on US national security interests for years to come, even setting aside the fiasco of the internationally embarrassing chaotic departure of our troops, citizens and Afghan local-national employees who are now in serious danger. From my perspective as someone who has been closely involved in national security matters for 62 years as an Air Force officer, National War College graduate, defense industry executive, and corporate CEO, I can say that this is the worst failure of the world’s only superpower to exercise its full military and diplomatic power projection capabilities that I’ve ever witnessed. But it’s also very dangerous because it sends the wrong message to our allies and our enemies alike…..that we’re weak, ineffective, and impotent. Full analysis: www.cdhr.info

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Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, CDHR
1629 K St. NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: (202) 558-5552; (202) 413-0084; Fax: (202) 536-5210
ali@PROTECTED; www.cdhr.info

Center for Democracy & Human Rights in Saudi Arabia Newsletter Message

2021-05-06T15:27:31Z

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

May 6, 2021

CDHR’s Analysis and Commentaries

Is MBS Unfurling the Coronation Carpet?

CDHR Analysis: In self-aggrandizing and carefully measured answers in this eclectic interview, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) seems to be preparing the population, other diehard Muslims and the international community for his imminent ascendance to the throne. After he reviewed and gloated over his economic and social initiative accomplishments, he pledged that under his rule there will be no deviation from the way the country has been ruled since its establishment in 1932.

When asked whether there would be a governing moderation under his rule, he disqualified himself from defining moderation, but declared his unflinching commitment to adhere to his family’s 300-year-old sectarian system. "Our constitution is the Quran which will last forever. The Basic Law of Governance stipulates it very clearly.” The 1992 Basic Law underscored the Saudi family’s eternal rule: “Rulers of the country shall be from amongst the sons of the founder King Abdu laziz bin Abdulrahman Al-Faisal Al-Saud, and their descendants.” In other words, the country is and will always remain a royal property. Read more: www.cdhr.info

Saudi and Persian Monocrats: Common Values and Objectives

CDHR Analysis: As stated here, the Saudi and Persian rulers are embarking on fence-mending after their competitive policies of death and destruction in Syria, Yemen and Iraq (among other places) did not achieve their regional supremacy objectives.

After decades of demonizing and delegitimizing each other, the two like-minded autocratic rulers of Iran and Saudi Arabia may have realized that neither of them will be allowed (by their global superpower beneficiaries) to dominate the other or the Arab and Muslim states, some of which they have reduced to ashes, wreaked major population dislocations, calamitous starvation and mounds of bodies. Read more: www.cdhr.info

47 Saudi Women Ushered in an Irreversible Movement

CDHR Commentary: 31 years ago, five years prior to the historic Beijing Fourth World Conference Declaration on Women in 1995, 47 Saudi women began the most consequential women’s movement in Saudi Arabia. They planned a flawless behind the wheel ride for which they paid a high price. They took their spouses’ car keys on November 26, 1990, and drove around the dusty Saudi capital, Riyadh, for half an hour before they were overwhelmed by the ubiquitous Saudi security forces. They defied the misogynistic state’s institutionalized discriminatory ban on women’s right to drive at a brutal cost to themselves and their families. “The women paid heavily for their actions — all the drivers, and their husbands, were barred from foreign travel for a year. Those women who had government jobs were fired. And from hundreds of mosque pulpits, they were denounced by name as immoral women out to destroy Saudi society.” The character assassination and unfounded vulgarity are some of the damning and medieval tools the autocratic Saudi political and religious authorities have used to incite segments of society against each other for decades. Read more: www.cdhr.info

Ending Support for the Destruction of Yemen is Commendable First Step

CDHR Commentary: President Biden’s announcement on Jan. 4, 2021, to end U.S. support for the Saudi/Emirati oligarchies’ “offensive” war in Yemen after their coalition pulverized that country and subjugated its resilient society to unspeakable human misery is commendable. However, the devastation of what remains of Yemen’s infrastructure, its sources of food and water and the suffering of its 26 million people will likel y continue, unless the Saudis and Emiratis are obligated to pay for the rebuilding of what they destroyed, especially the sources of food, water, electricity, roads, and health facilities.

When the Saudi/Emirati-led coalition invaded Yemen in 2015, the Yemenis were in the midst of a civil war which morphed into a proxy war between autocratic Saudi/Emirati and theocratic Persian regimes, which have been vying for regional domination for years. Ending the calamitous Yemen war and reconstructing the extensive damage it has caused to Yemen, its people and to the forgotten Saudi citizens along the 800 mile Saudi/Yemeni border will not only give people a chance to resume a normal existence, but is in the best interest of the U .S.’s and the international community’s economic and national security. It will minimize the rise and spread of a new generation of recruits for local and foreign governments and for extremist groups, like Al-Qaeda, Jama’ah Islamiyah and ISIS, among others. Read more: www.cdhr.info

Donate: CDHR is 501 (c) 3 tax exempt educational organization. ID: 27-0095260.

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Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, CDHR
1629 K St. NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: (202) 413-0084; Fax: (202) 536-5210
ali@PROTECTED; www.cdhr.info

Center for Democracy & Human Rights in Saudi Arabia Newsletter Message

2020-09-19T09:30:25Z

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

Sept. 18, 2020 Saudi Affairs--CDHR’s Analysis and Commentaries

The Culprits in Khashoggi’s Murder Escape Justice

CDHR Commentary: As expected, the three men implicated in orchestrating, giving the order and supervising the implementation of Jamal Khashoggi’s gruesome murder have escaped punishment because the closed trial was structured not to try them, let alone convict them. In other words, the Saudi justice system is designed to exempt powerful rulers and their operatives from the rule of Saudi law. This occurred despite global consensus that Crown Princ e Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and two of his top confidants, Saud Al-Qahtani and General Ahmed Al-Asiri, were directly linked to Khashoggi’s assassination. The farcical court sentenced the men who carried out their masters’ orders, while absolving the real culprits of the heinous crime. Read more: www.cdhr.info

Saudi Oligarchs Are Set to Host G20 Heads of State

CDHR Commentary: Despite the fact that the Saudi monarchy is a well-known violator of basic human rights, a top exporter and financier of extremist dogma and a major contributor to air pollution, the G20 heads of state and other spectators are expected to travel to the Saudi kingdom in November 2020 to attend the elitist group’s annual meeting. If the scheduled gathering commences as planned, it could not have come at a more inappropriate and unnerving time. Traveling to a country ruled by one of the world’s last totalitarian oligarchs in order to attend a gathering of detached elitists meeting in the midst of a deadly global pandemic and melting economies is incomprehensible. The hosts are faced with an economic fiasco, painful austerity, wide-spread virus infections, destabilizing political turmoil and a multitude of regional bankrupting and catastrophic conflicts. Likewise, the rest of the G20 heads of state are facing similar challenging issues. Additionally, they are engaged in unprecedented trade, strategic and political hostilities that could end the established bonding world order. Read more: www.cdhr.info

Sacking a Few Corrupt Princes and Other Looters Won’t Do It

CDHR Commentary: Pillaging public revenues has been a way of life among Saudi royals and their cronies since the establishment of their kingdom almost a century ago. Without accountability, transparency and public scrutiny, arresting a few corrupt princes is designed to generate foreign investments in Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s $500 billion mega dream city, NOEM and other projects. Corruption is a disease that thrives under absolute despots where accountability, transparency and public scrutiny in countries like Saudi Arabia are considered besmirched Christian and Jewish inventions and where the ruling oligarchs treat the country and its population, especially women, as their private property. Read more: www.cdhr.info

Saudis Vilify Uncompromising Female Journalists

CDHR Commentary: Three Lebanese female journalists, two of whom work for Al-Jazeera, “the undisputed voice of the free in an Arab world that remains in shackles,” and London-based Zahra Hankir are being vilified for their solidarity with pro-democracy and -social justice Saudis. These righteous and courageous anti-misogynistic and -discriminatory polices journalists are the subject of relentless sexual defamation and character assassination by Saudis an d Emiratis. Why? Aljazeera journalists Ghada Oueiss and Ola al-Fares are targeted because of their expose of Saudi maltreatment of dissidents, especially women, and by addressing Khashoggi’s assassination unabashedly. Because of her solidarity with incarcerated and tortured Saudi women, Zahra Hankir declined invitations to participate in the G20 conference, scheduled for November 2020 in the Saudi capital. Read more: www.cdhr.info

Please donate to CDHR’s educational efforts to address issues of current and future relevance to Saudi Arabia, the Muslim World and the international community. CDHR invokes thought-provoking discourse and promotes representative governing system. CDHR is a 501 (c) 3 tax exempt educational organization. ID: 27-0095260.

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Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, CDHR
1629 K St. NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: (202) 558-5552; (202) 413-0084; Fax: (202) 536-5210
ali@PROTECTED; www.cdhr.info

Center for Democracy & Human Rights in Saudi Arabia Newsletter Message

2020-06-10T06:24:43Z

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

June 10, 2020

CDHR”s Analysis And Commentaries

Are Darker Days Ahead For Saudis Under Salman’s and Sons’ Rule?

CDHR Commentary: As this report demonstrates, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s (MBS) hunt for his critics and affiliates of former rival royals continues and will likely intensify in the years ahead. Faced with predicted economic hardships, abandonment by powerful western allies and unpopularity within his vast and ruthless family, MBS is likely to rely on the sword to survive politically and personally. One would think that MBS has learned that the fallout of egregious behaviour like the grisly murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in which he was implicated, can cause irreparable damage, not on ly to him but to the country and its oppressed population. MBS inherited a brutal system for which he was chosen (by his father King Salman) to modernize and use to ensure the population’s loyalty through fear of authority, a tradition his oligarchical family has effectively employed for centuries. Click on www.cdhr.info for full analysis

For the Saudi People, Living with Viruses is “Addy” (Normal)

CDHR Commentary: For most Saudis, curfews, economic hardships and uncontestable political oppression are a way of life since (and centuries before) the establishment of the “illegitimate” Saudi state in1932. As this write-up reveals, in response to the coronavirus’ crippling impact on the Saudi regime’s oil-based income, the Saudi rulers tripled taxes on and cut social benefits for their population, most of whom are already financially distraught. This is in addition to being besieged by nightmares of catching the disease without enough advanced medical facilities and trained personnel capable of dealing with an onslaught of virus cases. As customarily practiced in Saudi Arabia, austerity measures are not applied to the thousands of state-supported extravagantly-spending royals. The severe austerity measures were publicly decreed after the king and son, Crown Prince Mohammed, fled the capital, Prince Mohammed to his dream palace in his imaginary city, NEOM, and King Salman to shield himself in one of his castles on a lush and fortified island in the Red Sea. Click on www.cdhr.info for full analysis

Coronavirus, Fleeing Royals and Intensified Repression

CDHR Analysis: After cutting the country off from the rest of the world and decreeing crippling ban on travelling between cities and regions in the vast desert kingdom, King Salman and his heir son, Crown Prince Mohammed, flee their capital, Riyadh, to shield themselves from coronavirus. King Salman sheltered himself in a lush island in the Red Sea and Prince Mohammed summoned up his compliant ministers and other loyalists and took off for NEOM, a futuristic (fantasy) city estimated to cost $500 billion to build in the middle of nowhere. Not surprisingly, the first contracts issued were to build beach sprawling mansions for King Salman, Prince Mohammed and their immediate relatives. Click on www.cdhr.info for full analysis

The Passing of a Giant Advocate of Freedom and the Rule of Law

CDHR Commentary: Dr. Abdullah Al-Hamid, rest in peace. “A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.” You left a trail of flickering and enduring examples: selflessness, moral courage and unflinching commitment to free Saudi Arabia from fear, ostracism, intimidation, corruption and unrelenting oppression.

Dr. Al-Hamid was born and raised in the Al-Qasim region (central Arabia,) the birthplace of the Saudi and Wahhabi clans and their doctrine, Wahhabism, infamous for its ferocious recriminations: arbitrary arrest and lengthy incarcerations without charges, flogging and beheadings as dictated by Shariah law, which is interpreted by government’s misogynist clerics who operate the Saudi judicial system. Dr. Al-Hamid was a professor, a writer, a poet and a fearless advocate of inclusive political reforms, human rights, civil society and rule of non-sectarian laws. Click on www.cdhr.info for full analysis

Saudi Princess Pleads for Mercy

CDHR Commentary: The Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, CDHR, learned about Princess Basmah’s and her offspring’s interrogation more than a year ago, but refrained from highlighting her perilous situation to avoid providing her ruthless handlers with ammunition to justify their fabricated accusations directed at visionary social justice promoters. Like other men and women advocates of peaceful reforms, Basmah has not been charged with any crime because she has not committed any. On the contrary, she has always emphasised her unequivocal commitment to the survival and well-being of the Saudi royal family. Click on www.cdhr.info for full analysis

Donate to CDHR’s educational efforts to address tough issues, invoke thought-provoking discourse and suggest peaceful solutions. CDHR is a 501 (c) 3 tax exempt educational organization. ID: 27-0095260

Please go to our website www.cdhr.info and click on donate.

Or send checks to this address:

Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, CDHR
1629 K St. NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: (202) 558-5552; (202) 413-0084; Fax: (202) 536-5210
ali@PROTECTED; www.cdhr.info

Center for Democracy & Human Rights in Saudi Arabia Newsletter Message

2020-02-29T21:23:08Z

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

February 29, 2020

CDHR’s Analysis of Saudi Domestic and External Affairs

Saudi Arabia: Repression Cloaked in Reforms

CDHR Commentary: As this report illustrates, the Saudi regime’s highly acclaimed social initiatives were not intended to pave the way for a better and freer life, free of fear and suppression, but to attract foreign investors, appease and silence critics and deflect the Saudi people’s attention from focussing on their economic hardships and political repression. In reality, social and political repression has not only remained severe, but amplified since the ascendance of King Salman and his sons to power in January 2015. Read full analysis: www.cdhr.info

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-51597561

Saudi Arabia: Chosen for Empowerment of Arab Women?

CDHR Commentary: “Riyadh is set to cement itself as a champion of women as the 39th session of the Arab Women’s Committee declares the Saudi city as the Capital of Arab Women 2020.”

This choice is ironic, but not surprising, given the Saudi oligarchy’s financial and religious influence on the regimes, societies and religious establishments that the Arab Women’s Committee represents. Committee members are privileged women who represent their respective autocratic regimes’ domestic policies, especially as they relate to women, ethnic groups and religious minorities. Read full analysis: www.cdhr.info

https://women-s.net/muslim-womens-rights-sharia-law/

Saudi Arabia Asserts its Protection, Support of Women’s Rights

Commentary by Jumana Aljohni, Member of CDHR Board of Directors

Saudi Arabia continues to claim social reforms unleashed by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, which focus on women’s rights. As native Saudis living abroad, we keenly follow the news with fainted hope, skepticism and a critical eye. We believe it is an important topic that warrants our attention, but it is crucial to maintain intellectual integrity, which is arrived at through an open, accurate and objective independent thought process. All new amendments geared towards women are supposed to bring changes to many aspects of life in the conservative kingdom. Read full analysis: www.cdhr.info

https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2007761/saudi-arabia-asserts-its-protection-support-women%E2%80%99s-rights

Does this Jew Have the Right to Visit His Birthplace in Saudi Arabia?

CDHR Commentary: As this video displays (in Arabic) Dawy Bin Yousef Shukr, a Jew born and raised in Najran, Saudi Arabia, is imploring the Saudi oligarchs to facilitate a journey for him to visit his childhood villages, with which this advocate for human rights and democratic reforms in Saudi Arabia is familiar. As in many Arab and Muslim countries, hundreds of thousands of Jews were either evicted or had to leave their homelands after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.

Read full analysis: www.cdhr.info

https://twitter.com/almakramy/status/1222993278435569664
https://mobile.twitter.com/almakramy/status/1222993278435569664?s=09

Touring Auschwitz: Moral Imperative or Tactical Expediency?

CDHR Commentary: After 75 years of denying the annihilation of 6 million Jews, a constellation of governments’ carefully hand-picked Muslim clerics, led by the chief of the Saudi created and financed Muslim World League, visited Auschwitz and other butchery sites where millions of innocent people were rounded up, starved, gunned down and cremated for no reasons other than their beliefs, lifestyles and ethnicities. The leading cleric of the delegation, Moham med Al-Issa chairs the World Muslim League, created in 1962 by the Saudi rulers to legitimize their callous system, export the anti-non-Muslim Wahhabi doctrine and to increase their influence worldwide. Read full analysis: www.cdhr.info

https://www.arabbarometer.org/2019/12/arabs-are-losing-faith-in-religious-parties-and-leaders/

Donate to CDHR’s educational efforts to address tough issues, invoke thought-provoking discourse and suggest peaceful solutions. CDHR is a 501 (c) 3 tax exempt educational organization.

Please go to our website www.cdhr.info and click on donate.

Or send checks to this address:

Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, CDHR
1629 K St. NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: (202) 558-5552; (202) 413-0084; Fax: (202) 536-5210
ali@PROTECTED; www.cdhr.info

Center for Democracy & Human Rights in Saudi Arabia Newsletter Message

2020-01-16T06:31:19Z

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

Jan.16, 2020

Arab and Muslim Self-inflicted Rejection of Reason, “Saudi Arabia Committed to Protecting Human Rights”?

Elimination of Soleimani

CDHR’s Commentaries and Analysis

Arab and Muslim Regimes Lament Centuries of Self-inflicted Rejection of Reason

CDHR Commentary: After turning a blind eye to centuries of evolutionary strides in sciences, social, political, religious, and economic progress, some Arab and Muslim regimes, led by an anti-Saudi and anti-Emirati Malaysian leader , are calling for catching up with “non-Muslims.” The December 19, 2019, “Muslim Summit” in Kuala Lumpur, Indonesian head of state Mahathir Mohammed told a number of Arab and Muslim heads of state at a conference, “while we may not have been able to fully dissect all that had caused our pain and anguish, we are mo stly in agreement that it is our inability to keep up with the progress and development of the non-Muslims that has left us in the lurch.” Read more: www.cdhr.info

“Saudi Arabia Committed to Protecting Human Rights”?

CDHR Commentary: Exalting King Salman and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed, as champions of human rights is expected from their appointees, like Dr. Awwad Al-Awwad, the president of the powerless Saudi Human Rights Commission. Dr. Awwad was appointed by the king to head the Commission. Dr. Al-Awwad stated that “More than 60 reforms have been made to improve the situation of human rights in the Kingdom, of which 22 related to women’s rights,” especially the right to drive. The Saudi rulers, their lobbyists and beneficiaries promote allowing women to go to movie houses, sport arenas and to drive as “the deal of the century.” In reality, the recent Saudi social initiatives are neither novelty nor revolutionary. They have been practiced under all other systems for centuries. Women around the world, including in most Arab and Muslim countries, have been driving and going to movies since cars and movies existed. Additionally, the social initiatives were not intended to democratize and humanize the Saudi system, but to attract foreign investors to resuscitate the faltering Saudi economy. Read more: www.cdhr.info

GCC Dynasties: Fragmented and Vulnerable

CDHR Commentary: With the exception of the defiant Emir of Qatar, the kings, Sultans and Emirs of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (GCC) and their outsized entourages, mostly security and body guard personnel, arrived in Saudi Arabia on December 10, 2019 to conduct their 40th summit in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. As expected, their agenda consisted of the same topics they have rehashed during the group’s previous 39 sessions: addressing “regional and global political developments.” Read more: www.cdhr.info

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2019/12/10/GCC-leaders-arrive-in-Riyadh-for-40th-Summit.htmlews.com/node/1597466

Killing Tyrant Murderers May Score Points for Presidents and Generals, but…

CDHR Commentary: Defeating extremism, terrorism and annihilating charismatic and appealing killers in the Middle East necessitate drying the swamps that breed and nurture them: tyrannical systems. Omnipresent social injustice, rampant corruption, political repression, religious intolerance, ethnic cleansing, maltreatment and marginalization of women are the root causes of centuries-old wars and rise of consecutive assassins and death squads in the Middle East. Killing bin Laden produced ISIS, which the ruthless General Soleimani, in collaboration with Trump’s Administration, helped dispersing. Killing Soleimani will produce more repression, as well as deadlier individuals and movements. Read more: www.cdhr.info

Donate to CDHR’s educational efforts to address tough issues, invoke thought-provoking discourse and suggest peaceful solutions.

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Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, CDHR
1629 K St. NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: (202) 558-5552; (202) 413-0084; Fax: (202) 536-5210
ali@PROTECTED; www.cdhr.info

Center for Democracy & Human Rights in Saudi Arabia Newsletter Message

2019-12-09T07:16:06Z

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

Tax Exempt ID: 27-0095260

December 9, 2019

CDHR’s Analysis And Commentaries

Florida Carnage, Intensifying Domestic Oppression and Hunting Rights Advocates

The Class Room Butchery in Florida

CDHR Commentary: The responses to the tragic rampage in an aviation classroom in Florida on Friday, December 6, 2019, when three American patriots and a Saudi terrorist lost their lives and twelve other people were wounded, bear a resemblance to previous reactions from officials, media and experts: let’s not jump to a conclusion and accuse the Saudis of terrorism. This response is one of America’s reassuring democratic trademarks and justice traditions: a person is innocent until proven guilty. The opposite is the trademark of the Saudi system. Read more: www.cdhr.info

Has the U.S. Become Fertile Ground for Hunting Saudi Rights Advocates?

CDHR Commentary: As this report details, the heir to the Saudi throne (President Trump’s and family’s trusted ally,) Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is not deterred by the gruesome murder of Jamal Khashoggi and the global outraged reactions it generated against the country and its voiceless population.

Like anti-freedom of choice and other violators of human rights, the scrounging Saudi royals did not invent the U.S.’s abandonment of its historical moral and democratic leadership; they not only take advantage of it, but ensured that its architects’ blessings for their cruelty against their people, especially those who promote equality, free expression and social justice is a done deal. Read more: www.cdhr.info

Saudi Rulers: Trampling on the Best Hope for a Stable and Peaceful Country

CDHR Commentary: As this and a multitude of other accounts demonstrate, King Salman and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed, consider far-sighted Saudi scholars, writers, civil society and peaceful human rights activists, especially women, more dangerous than terrorists. Thinkers and highly educated non-sectarian promoters of humane and stabilising values, like civil society leader Mohammed Al-Qahtani (no relation to Prince Mohammed’s hatchet man, Saud Al-Qahtani,) Aman Al-Nafjan, Aziza Al-Yousef, Lujain Al-Hathloul, cleric Salman Aloudah, Raif and sister Samar Badawi and her husband Waleed, Hamza Kashgari and tens of other patriotic Saudis are either languishing in Saudi dungeons and subjected to unspeakable treatment or confined to their high-walled homes for promoting gradual peaceful political reforms. These reformers and millions of Saudis crave transformation of the absolute dynastic Saudi rule to a pluralistic system where people are protected by non-tribal and sectarian rule of law. Read more: www.cdhr.info

Donate to CDHR’s educational efforts to address tough issues, invoke thought-provoking discourse and suggest peaceful solutions.

CDHR is a 501 (c) 3 tax exempt educational organization. Tax Exempt ID: 27-0095260

Please go to our website www.cdhr.info and click on donate.

Or send checks to this address:

Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, CDHR
1629 K St. NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: (202) 558-5552; (202) 413-0084; Fax: (202) 536-5210
ali@PROTECTED; www.cdhr.info

Center for Democracy & Human Rights in Saudi Arabia Newsletter Message

2019-10-28T06:33:20Z

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

October 28, 2019

Public Discussion: Saudi Arabia’s Unpredictable Future

Thursday, October 31, 10a.m. to 12:30p.m. (lunch will be served)

1666 K St NW, Suite 440, Washington, DC 20006

Contact: ali@PROTECTED--- rsvp@PROTECTED

Never in its history has the Saudi ruling family faced more domestic, regional and global challenges than it does currently: a non-winnable war in Yemen, the blockade of Qatar, a threatening confrontation with its formidable Iranian regional competitor, economic uncertainties, destabilizing palace turmoil, high unemployment among a burgeoning youth and an unpredictable American president the Saudis cannot manipulate or trust.

Discussants:

Ali Alyami: Opening remarks by the founder and director of the Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, CDHR.

Jumana (Afaf) Rasheed Aljohni: The Cost of Saudi Guardianship System

Jumana is a Saudi native and a fierce opponent of the Saudi institutionalized male guardian system (or “modern Slavery”). She has a master’s degree in Peace Interventions & Conflict Resolution from the Portland State University.

Dr. Abdullah Alaoudh: Religious Reform and Reformers in Saudi Arabia

Alaoudh is Senior Fellow at Georgetown University and part-time faculty at George Washington University. He is a Saudi native whose father Salman Aloudah could face the death penalty for promoting freedom of expression and constitutional monarchy.

Jack Pearce: Saudi Arabia: adrift on a sea of oil. Where go the tides?

Jack Pearce is a former White House and Department of Justice counsel, energy sector observer and accomplished businessman.

* * * *

‘Saudi Arabia Finds Little Goodwill in the U.S’

CDHR Commentary: Instead of empathizing with the Saudis after the shattering September 14 attack on Saudi oil facilities, most American news outlets expressed unfavorable opinions about the Saudi rulers and their policies. Headlines like “The End of Saudi Arabia’s Illusion,” “We’re Not the Saudis’ Mercenaries,” “Trump Should Not Go to War For Saudi Arabia's Mistakes,” and “Congress Is Helping Saudi Arabia Destabilize the Middle East” dominated U.S. newspapers. This did not come as a surprise to those who are focusing on Saudi Arabia, its domestic and foreign policies and its increasingly contentious relations with the U.S. Full analysis: www.cdhr.info

Causes and Consequences of Attacking Saudi Oil Facilities

CDHR Commentary: The costly attack on Saudi oil facilities on September 14, 2019, has been attributed to Iran by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Iran has vehemently denied it, but its Yemeni Houthi (Zaydis, offshoot of Shi’a Islam) clients claimed responsibility for carrying out the devastating misdeed and promised more attacks on Saudi Arabia. President Trump called the repressive Saudi de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and assured him of the U.S.’s commitment to ensure Saudi Arabia’s security. Mr. Trump “…also said he is waiting to hear from Saudi officials about how to proceed ” after they investigate the source of the drones that inflicted substantial damage on their main source of income, the oil facilities. Full analysis: www.cdhr.info

Fallout of Attacks on Saudi Oil Facilities

CDHR Analysis: Unlike his predecessors, President Trump is in a sound position to resist demands to retaliate against Iran and/or its proxies for the devastating attacks on Saudi oil facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais on September 14, 2019. Full analysis: www.cdhr.info

Center for Democracy & Human Rights in Saudi Arabia Newsletter Message

2019-10-16T08:54:23Z

Public Discussion: Saudi Arabia’s Unpredictable Future

October 31, 10 AM, at 1666 K St NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20006 --Contact: ali@PROTECTED--- rsvp@PROTECTED

Never in its history has the Saudi ruling family faced more domestic, regional and global challenges than it does currently. Mired in a non-winnable war in Yemen, blockading of Qatar, threatening confrontation with its formidable Iranian regional competitor, economic uncertainties, destabilizing palace turmoil, high unemployment among a burgeoning youth and an unpredictable American president the Saudis cannot manipulate or trust. Full conference details: www.cdhr.info

‘Saudi Arabia Finds Little Goodwill in the U.S’

CDHR Commentary: Instead of empathizing with the Saudis after the shattering September 14 attack on Saudi oil facilities, most American news outlets (conservative and liberal) expressed unfavorable opinions about the Saudi rulers and their policies. Headlines like “The End of Saudi Arabia’s Illusion,” “We’re Not the Saudis’ Mercenaries,” “Trump Should Not Go to War For Saudi Arabia's Mistakes,” and “Congress Is Helping Saudi Arabia Destabilize the Middle East” dominated U.S. newspapers. This did not come as a surprise to those who are focusing on Saudi Arabia, its domestic and foreign policies and its increasingly contentious relations with the U.S. Full analysis: www.cdhr.info

Causes and Consequences of Attacking Saudi Oil Facilities

CDHR Commentary: The costly attack on Saudi oil facilities on September 14, 2019, has been attributed to Iran by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Iran has vehemently denied it, but its Yemeni Houthi (Zaydis, offshoot of Shi’a Islam) clients claimed responsibility for carrying out the devastating misdeed and promised more attacks on Saudi Arabia. President Trump called the repressive Saudi de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and assured him of the U.S.’s commitment to ensure Saudi Arabia’s security. Mr. Trump “…also said he is waiting to hear from Saudi officials about how to proceed ” after they investigate the source of the drones that inflicted substantial damage on their main source of income, the oil facilities. Full analysis: www.cdhr.info

Fallout of Attacks on Saudi Oil Facilities

CDHR Analysis: Unlike his predecessors, President Trump is in a sound position to resist trigger happy advisors’, some powerful politicians’ in his party and interest groups’ demands to retaliate against Iran and/or its proxies for the devastating attacks on Saudi oil facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais on September 14, 2019. Full analysis: www.cdhr.info