Layalina Productions, Inc. | The Layalina Review: "Human Rights and Development in the Arab World"

The Layalina Review

VOL. V NO. 16, July 17-July 30, 2009

Human Rights and Development in the Arab World

In a 69-page report, Amnesty International denounces Saudi Arabia's human rights violations, which were committed under the pretense of fighting terrorism, reports BBC. The human rights group alleges that Saudi authorities have detained 3,100 people, while failing to disclose the names of those tried or details pertaining to the charges.

Those being held include former Guantanamo Bay detainees, reports The Guardian. The Saudi interior minister declared in a statement two years ago that 9,000 security suspects were detained since 2001. According to the Amnesty report, 3,106 remain in detention. Unofficial sources put the number much higher, citing waves of arrests that have occurred over the last two years, notes BBC.

Reuters reports that although Al-Qaeda began a campaign to destabilize the Saudi government in 2003, security forces in cooperation with foreign experts ended the violence. BBC security correspondent, Frank Gardener, remarks that Amnesty concedes that most of the thousands detained without trial have links to groups responsible for attacks, though their cases remain shrouded in secrecy, wherein basic human rights become neglected.

The Amnesty report claims that Saudi authorities beat prisoners and use sleep deprivation and electroshock to obtain confessions, writes the LA Times. Malcolm Smart, the director of Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa Program, said on Amnesty’s website that, “Most [detainees] are held incommunicado for years without trial, and are denied access to lawyers and the courts to challenge the legality of their detention.”

Kate Allen, the director of Amnesty’s UK office, calls for a change in the policy of the Saudi authorities and accuses the international community of being “far too muted” in their response to Saudi violations of human rights, reports BBC. Malcolm Smart adds, “The Saudi Arabian government has used its powerful international clout to get away with [human rights violations].”

A Saudi Interior Ministry official, Abdulrahman Al-Hadlaq, responded to the Amnesty report stating, “These are claims that have to be proven,” reports the LA Times. Al-Hadlaq went on to say that Saudi human rights policies are very clear and that “the orders given are for prisoners to be treated with respect and according to international human rights principles."

Amnesty warns that the Saudi government has attempted to deflect attention from human rights abuses with a state-controlled media focus on the high-profile case against a group of 991 detainees, and on the new "re-education" program, reports The Guardian. The LA Times notes that the Saudi Ministry of Justice has released statistics citing “330 suspects [of the 991] tried for terror-related offenses, receiving penalties ranging from fines to death.”

Amnesty claims that in addition to the mass arrests, many detainees have been killed in “uncertain circumstances,” while hundreds more face secret summary trials and possible execution. The organization points out that some of the prisoners were targeted for their peaceful criticism of government policy.

ABC notes that some analysts claim the human rights allegations and harsh tactics are a tradeoff for what is considered a successful counterterrorism effort. After all, Saudi authorities have been widely credited with defeating al-Qaeda in their country.

"From the Saudi point of view they have not violated anything...they are going to mitigate any threat to the state, no matter what cost," said Dr. Theodore Karasik, a security expert at the Institute for Near East & Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA), a Dubai-based think tank.

Dr. Mustafa Alani, Director of Security and Terrorism Studies at the Gulf Research Center, argues that the Saudi re-education or rehabilitation program, which combines ideological re-orientation with economic incentives, enjoys early public praise.

With an estimated 3,000 Saudis who have been through the program, one to ten percent are believed to have returned to terrorism. Nonetheless, Saudi Arabia’s perceived success in securing its borders from terrorism is blamed for creating the conditions favorable to the regrouping of jihadis in Yemen, a weak state with rampant poverty.

The Amnesty report accompanies a UN assessment of security in the Arab World, which faults governments for curtailing the growth and development of their citizens, reports the Washington Times. The assessment states that infringement on human rights is a larger obstacle to development than the “oil curse” or foreign occupation.

The UN Development Program’s (UNDP) Human Development Report recommends that Arab governments outlaw discrimination against women and minorities, protect the environment and create meaningful work. Although Adel Abdellatif, UNDP program director for the Arab region, claims that most Arab governments have adopted laws protecting specific human rights, the laws are often “upended” or “outsized” by security organizations or government decrees.

The UNDP report finds that oil wealth, sometimes blamed for the excesses that limit human development, is not in itself a curse, as long as the state uses its proceeds to invest in infrastructure to improve the lives of its citizens.

In line with the UNDP assessment, a campaign started by Wajeha Al-Huweidar, a female journalist and human rights activist, seeks to end the Saudi Mahram Law, reports MEMRI. The law forbids women to leave their home without a male guardian.

In an article on the liberal website Minbar Al-Hiwar Wal-'Ibra (http://www.menber-alhewar1.info), Al-Huweidar describes Saudi Arabia as the “largest women’s prison.” She states that Saudi women have no prospects of release, unlike real prisoners, since throughout their life they are under the control of a male guardian. Mahram, meaning “forbidden,” refers to a male guardian whom a woman cannot legally marry, but who can serve as her guardian.

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