Saudi Arabian State Terror - Stephen Lendman
Annually, the State Department publishes human rights reports for over 190 countries. Its latest April 8, 2011 Saudi Arabia assessment discusses "significant human rights abuses and inability of citizens to change its absolute monarchal rule, including:
- "torture and physical abuse;
- poor prison and detention center conditions;
- arbitrary arrest and incommunicado detention;
- denial of fair and public trials and lack of due process in the judicial system;
- political prisoners;
- restrictions on civil liberties such as freedom of speech (including the Internet);
- assembly, association, movement, and severe restrictions on religious freedom; and
- corruption and lack of transparency."
Also mentioned were inequality and violence against women, human trafficking, no labor rights, discrimination on the basis of gender, religion, sect and ethnicity, and violations of children's rights.
Saudi's absolute monarchal rule is despotic, lawless and brutal. It's a police state practicing state terrorism internally and regionally. It's also Washington's main Middle East ally after Israel.
In early December, Amnesty International (AI) published a report on the kingdom titled, "Saudi Arabia: Repression in the Name of Security."
Largely unnoticed in the West like the State Department's April assessment, major media scoundrels suppressed its ugly findings.
AI quoted Khaled al-Johani addressing reporters in Riyadh on the March 11, 2011 "Day of Rage," saying:
"I am here to say we need democracy. We need freedom. We need to speak freely. We need no one to stop us from expressing our opinions."
