Responding to Saudi Arabia’s hosting of a Formula One Grand Prix this weekend, Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said: “Over the last few years, the Saudi Arabian authorities have invested heavily in PR stunts to rebrand their image and attempt to deflect attention from their brutal crackdown on activists and human …
Tag Archives: Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia: Authorities ramp up repression after G20 hiatus
Saudi Arabian authorities have brazenly intensified the persecution of human rights defenders and dissidents and stepped up executions over the past six months, following a lull in prosecutions of activists and a sharp decline in use of the death penalty during Saudi Arabia’s G20 presidency last year, said Amnesty International in a new briefing published …
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Saudi Arabia: Google must halt plans to establish Cloud Region
Amnesty International has today joined with 38 other human rights groups and individuals to call on Google to halt plans to establish a Cloud Region in Saudi Arabia until the company can publicly demonstrate how it will mitigate risks of adverse human rights impacts. “Saudi Arabia has a dismal human rights record, including digital surveillance of dissidents, …
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Forty-seven international organisations call for UN-action on Saudi Arabia
Forty-seven international organisations, including Amnesty International, has written to the Foreign Ministers of Australia, Iceland and Denmark, asking them to lead on a resolution to address the human rights crisis in Saudi Arabia at the 47th session of the UN Human Rights Council. The letter outlines that the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia has …
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Saudi Arabia: Release of women’s rights defender Loujain al-Hathloul long overdue
Responding to the news that the Saudi Arabian human rights defender Loujain al-Hathloul was released from prison earlier today, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Lynn Maalouf said: “Loujain al-Hathloul’s release after a harrowing ordeal in prison in Saudi Arabia — lasting nearly three years — is an incredible relief, …
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Australia must raise human rights concerns at G20
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has the opportunity to lead on human rights concerns by raising them with leaders at the G20 Summit under Saudi Arabia’s presidency, which will be held virtually. Amnesty and the Gulf Institute for Democracy and Human Rights (GIDHR) have also written to the Saudi ambassador to Australia, Messaad Ibraham al-Sulaim, …
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Death penalty 2019: Saudi Arabia executed record number of people last year amid decline in global executions
Saudi Arabia executed a record number of people in 2019, despite an overall decline in executions worldwide, Amnesty International said in its 2019 global review of the death penalty published today. The Saudi authorities put 184 people to death last year, the highest number Amnesty has ever recorded in a single year in the country. …
Saudi Arabia: ‘sham’ trial of women’s activist Loujain al-Hathloul set to resume
Loujain al-Hathloul, the prominent Saudi Arabian women’s rights defender who has been detained for almost two years, is due to appear in court in Riyadh this week (Wednesday 11 March). Al-Hathloul is being tried on a variety of charges linked to her peaceful human rights activities, including campaigning for women’s right to drive and ending …
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Saudi Arabia: Categorising feminism, atheism, homosexuality as crimes exposes the Kingdom’s dangerous intolerance
Responding to an official announcement and a promotional video published by Saudi Arabia’s state security agency which categorises feminism, homosexuality and atheism as ‘extremist ideas’, Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Director, said: “The Saudi state security agency’s announcement which labels feminism, atheism and homosexuality as extremist ideas punishable by jail and …
Australia must suspend all military exports to Saudi Arabia over brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi
“The Australian Government’s response so far to Amnesty International’s concerns about arms sales to Saudi Arabia has amounted to blatantly brushing us off” – Amnesty International Australia’s Crisis Campaigns Coordinator Diana Sayed Responding to reports that Germany has suspended all future arms deals with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and ahead of the Defence Department …