Saudi dissidents ‘betrayed’ by Biden’s trip as he defends his planned visit

As President Joe Biden He defended his plans to visit Saudi Arabiaa country that once vowed to make an international “pariah”, the Saudis who have struggled to reform the absolute monarchy have described the trip as a betrayal that could have dire consequences.

“We feel betrayed,” Abdullah al-Odah, leader of the National Assembly Party, a US-based opposition group, told NBC News in a phone interview on Monday. “We were promised protection from Mohammed bin Salman,” he said, referring to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

With Biden expected to meet the crown prince, Al-Awda said he feared the president’s visit would encourage Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader to be “more brutal and savage.” Bin Salman led a crackdown on reformists and women’s rights activists that the CIA likely said ordered the brutal murder of a Washington Post columnist. Jamal Khashoggi.

Bin Salman has said he bears full responsibility for Khashoggi’s murder, but has denied any involvement in the journalist’s murder – an outspoken critic of the crown prince.

Saudi Arabia, a powerful regional mediator, one of the world’s largest oil producers and home to Islam’s two holiest sites, has been a vital ally of the United States. And before Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the crown prince was too She launched an attempt to modernize the deeply conservative kingdom economically and socially. The reforms mean women are now allowed to drive and cinemas have opened for the first time in 35 years.

It also embarked on an ambitious international campaign to change the name of the kingdom, attracting politicians, business leaders, sports leagues, players, social media influencers and journalists from around the world.

The crown prince’s attempt to present himself as a true reformer was shattered with the murder and dismemberment of Khashoggi in October 2018, but even before the assassination, Saudi Arabia had been carrying out public beheadings and arresting activists. Thousands of civilians have died in the war in Yemen, where Saudi-led forces are battling Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

Al-Odah, who is also the Gulf director for Democracy in the Arab World Now, or Dawn, said that given the crown prince’s tarnished reputation in the wake of Khashoggi’s death, what the king now wants most from the United States is “recognition and legitimacy”. A non-profit organization founded by Khashoggi to promote human rights in the Middle East.

He said Biden’s trip could effectively help the powerful crown prince “get away with murder.”

oil crisis

in an editorial It was published by the Washington Post Biden, titled “Why I’m Going to Saudi Arabia,” defended the planned visit, although he admitted that “there are many who do not agree with my decision” to travel to the kingdom.

“A safer and more integrated Middle East benefits Americans in many ways,” he wrote. “Its waterways are essential to global trade and the supply chains on which we depend. Its energy resources are vital to mitigating the impact on global supplies of the Russian war in Ukraine.”

The United States is among many Western countries that the Gulf states want to increase oil production, something they hope to improve A politically devastating energy crisis and weaken Russia’s stronghold in that market.

Saudi Arabia is key to these efforts, though Biden has previously said he wouldn’t specifically ask the country to ramp up production during this trip.

In his article, Biden said that Saudi Arabia “helped restore unity among the six Gulf Cooperation Council states, fully supported the armistice in Yemen, and is now working with my experts to help stabilize oil markets.”

“My goal was to reorient – but not sever – relations with a country that has been a strategic partner for 80 years,” he said.

But while oil will undoubtedly be a central focus of the trip, Biden said, “My views on human rights are clear and long-standing, and fundamental freedoms are always on the agenda when I travel abroad, as they will be during this trip, just as they will be in Israel and the West Bank.”

Al-Odah said he hoped that was true. However, he said he feared Biden’s trip would undo any progress made in pressing Saudi Arabia to make reforms.

He also noted that the president’s article took on a very different tone from comments Biden made in the run-up to the 2020 election, when he vowed to treat Saudi Arabia as a “pariah” country in the wake of Khashoggi’s murder.

Big win for Mohammed bin Salman

Lina Al-Hathloul, her sister – women’s rights activist Loujain Al-Hathloul – remains banned from travel after being imprisoned in Saudi Arabia before. Released last yearhe said that regardless of Biden’s intentions, his visit would be considered a major victory for the crown prince.

She said in her interview in a Press Conference On Monday, he called on Biden to press for the release of political prisoners during his visit to the kingdom. “It comes down to what the consequences will be once he goes there and (be) in the same room with Mohammed bin Salman – what the regime will do from that visit. It will be seen as a huge victory for Mohammed bin Salman.”

Loujain Al-Hathloul’s family and others had hoped for more support from Biden, who publicly confirmed and welcomed the news of her release from prison in February 2021.

Prominent activist in May 2018 along with several other female activists, after she made a name for herself as one of the few women to have publicly called for a woman’s right to drive. She also called for an end to Saudi Arabia’s restrictive male guardianship system, which has long restricted women’s freedom of movement.

Ali Al-Adabisi, director of the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights, also said that Biden’s visit “will send a message to Mohammed bin Salman, that no matter what he does inside and outside Saudi Arabia in places like Yemen, he will not be isolated. Or under pressure from the international community.”

“This visit is for Biden, his government’s interests, and their political goals in Saudi Arabia and the region in general,” he said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

However, Al-Adabisi said, “I have little hope that the United States will help us in the field of human rights.” Because historically, it has been responsible for empowering the Saudi government since its founding, sending weapons, and protecting them in difficult situations.

He said, “The United States will help Saudi Arabia in any situation, and that is why Saudi Arabia does not care about human rights, because it knows that the United States will protect it.”