SAUDI ARABIA – Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz al-Saud was buried in Riyadh on Tuesday 25 October, now the country and the world wait for the Saudi king to announce the new heir.
An Allegiance Council of the ruling family, set up by the king in 2006, is expected to approve a new crown prince after a three-day mourning period for Crown Prince Sultan which ends on Thursday.
The council is one of the reforms introduced by Abdullah to ensure a smooth succession, and has the power to step in if anything should befall the octogenarian ruler before his heir can be named.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Saudi Arabia’s Kind Abdullah Sunday 25 September granted women the right to vote in municipal elections, starting in 2015, in one of the most dramatic legal changes in the country in recent years. Women will not be able to vote in upcoming elections and there is some concern that the king’s edict will hit opposition that will further delay its implementation.
Women do not have the right to drive and appeals to the king to change this law have not yet met with success.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Syria significantly stepped up its fight against protesters over the weekend, drawing sharp rebukes from Saudi Arabia and more criticism from neighbouring countries. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia called the lastest round “unacceptable” to his country and recalled his ambassador to Syria, “breaking Arab silence”, as Reuters puts it. The king insisted that Syria’s leaders “enact reforms that are not merely promises but actual reforms”.
Tanks were striking the city of Deir al-Zor in an oil-producing region near the border with Iraq early Monday for the second day in a row, with western news agencies reporting up to 65 people killed (unconfirmed figures). A week earlier government forces hit the city of Hamas with gunfire, killing an unknown number.
The African Alliance in Capetown is calling on South Africa to support a UN Resolution condemning Syrian government violence. Sunday, Arab League Chief Nabil Elaraby, also condemned the violence publicly and a Turkish minister says his country’s patience is thinning.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The ILO’s (International Labour Organization) adoption of a set of international standards to improve the conditions of domestic workers has had an initial negative impact on Indonesian women. Jakarta announced last week that it would not allow its citizens to travel to Saudi Arabia unless human rights conditions there improved. An Indonesian maid was beheaded in Saudi Arabia in June.
Saturday July 2 Saudi Arabia announced that it will not allow Indonesian women to work as maids, stranding thousands of workers, most of whom come from poor families in Indonesia, and stalling talks between the two governments.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The long-serving president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, has been transferred to a hospital in Saudi Arabia after an attack on his headquarters left him with head injuries, but reports on his medical condition are contradictory. Yemeni Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi took on the responsibilities of president Saturday night.
The Yemeni government responded to the attacks by attacking the home of tribal leader Sadeq al-Ahmar, who is suspected of being behind the attack on Saleh and others.
Source: SECO, Switzerland (click on image to view larger)
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss Piranha tanks were used by Saudi Arabia in putting down protests in neighbouring Bahrain in mid-March, the Swiss Office for the Economy (Seco) confirmed Sunday 27 March to news agency ATS.
The tanks, on wheels, were made by Mowag in Kreuzlingen, canton Thurgau. Some 30 were sold to the Saudi government in the 1990s, Seco figures show.
Switzerland sold arms to Saudi Arabia for a number of years but stopped approving them in 1991 during the Gulf War and again in 2009, when the Swiss also banned sales of arms to Egypt and Pakistan.
Deals made before the bans are allowed to go ahead.
Switzerland stopped sales to the three countries, it said, because of extensive human rights abuses, and the government is making a push for greater transparency.
Swiss arms sales total CHF200-400 million a year, relatively small. The US Congress In November 2010 approved $60 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia alone.
Amnesty International has harshly criticized Switzerland for its role in delivering arms used by Saudi Arabia in Bahrain. The group called on countries meeting 28 February in New York, to renegotiate the Arms Trade Treaty, to “to ensure no weapons or munitions are sold to human rights abusers”.
Links to other sites: ATS/24 Heures, GenevaLunch report on Swiss arms sales, Feb 2011 and Amnesty International video on arms control “free-for-all”
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Tehran Times reports Wednesday evening that Swiss Ambassador Livia Leu Agosti was summoned Tuesday, along with the Saudi Arabian ambassador to hear complaints about US support for Saudi troops going to Bahrain, at the latter’s request.
Switzerland represents US interests in Iran. The ambassador promised to share Iran’s concerns with the US, the newspaper reports.
“The Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that Swiss Ambassador to Teheran Livia Leu Agosti was summoned over the US support for foreign military intervention in Bahrain and ‘baseless’ remarks by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates against Iran during his recent visit to Manama.”
Bahrain’s ruling royal family is Sunni Muslim, as is the Saudi royal family, but the majority of the population in Bahrain is Shi’ite Muslim, as is Iran.
Perceptions about the US role vary from Tehran’s criticism of US support to a Washington Post‘s editorial writer’s view that the Obama administration in the US is not seen as supportive.
US officials at the Pentagon say that Robert Gates, the defense secretary, was not given any warning when he visited Bahrain last week that just two days later Saudi Arabia would send 1,000 troops to the small kingdom to help quell protests, Monday 14 March. Aljazeera reports that the UAE (United Arab Emirates) sent 500 police and that both requests were made to help protect government buildings.
The White House said Monday it does not consider the move an invasion by Saudi Arabia, but it cautioned governments in the region to use restraint.
Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are ruled by Sunni Muslim families, and the protesters are Shi’ites. The region has long been marked by taut relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which is ruled by Shi’ite Muslims.
Update 18:05 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland in 2010 exported CHF640.5 million in “war materials” to 69 countries, down 12 percent from the previous year (CHF727.7m), compared to overall Swiss export, which rose by 8 percent, Bern announced Tuesday 22 February.
Arms exports accounted last year for less than half a percent of the country’s exports, 0.32 percent but with governments in several Arab nations using arms against their own citizens, observers in Switzerland are likely to look more closely this year at the details of Swiss arms exports.
Bern is putting the accent on transparency, pointing out that it remains high on the annual barometer for transparency established by the Small Arms Survey, which is attached to Geneva’s Graduate Institute. Small arms and light weapons account for only about CHF24 million of the total CHF640.5m arms exported by Switzerland last year, however. They fall under legislation covering arms and war materials.
Change in Swiss arms exports, 1983-2010 (source, Seco)
Top, Swiss arms exports in francs. Bottom, Swiss arms exports as a percentage of all exports. Source: Seco (click on image to view larger)
Air defense system sold to Saudi Arabia in 2006 covered 2010 delivery
One of the largest arms exports in 2010 was to Saudi Arabia, a partial delivery of an air defense system worth CHF132.6, which Bern is quick to point out was authorized in 2006.
Saud Bin Abdulaziz Bin Nasir al Saud, 34, a grandson of the ruler of Saudi Arabia has been found guilty of murdering his valet in a luxury London hotel, after only 90 minutes of deliberation by the jury at London’s Old Baily court, 19 October. He faces a life sentence in prison. He bit and and strangled his assistant to death in February after a night out celebrating Valentine’s Day. The prince had previously been caught on CCTV mistreating his assistant, who the court said was the victim of a sadistic campaign of abuse.
Al Saud was not covered by diplomatic immunity, and faces the death penalty in his home country for his homosexuality, which is a capital offense in Saudi Arabia. His defense team attempted to keep evidence of his homosexuality from being read out in court.
From "Esclavage domestique", portraits of domestic slaves, photos by Raphael Dallaporta, Imaginaid 2010
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Stories of household slaves make headlines only sporadically, such as this one 25 August 2010, where a Sri Lankan woman who had worked for one month as a maid in Saudi Arabia had 23 nails removed from her body. Her employer had tortured her before she escaped and returned home. The reality is often less dramatic, yet traumatic, within arm’s reach and a part of what on the surface is mundane daily life in cities like Geneva, Lausanne and Zurich.
Expect to see it all around you soon in Geneva, thanks to a public spaces exhibit, “Esclavage Domestique”, portraits (12 photos and 12 stories) of household slaves who have escaped, from 6-29 September.
A judge in Saudi Arabia is considering a medical procedure to damage a man’s spinal cord as punishment.
The man was convicted of leaving another man paralyzed. The victim, 22, was attacked with a cleaver during a fight two years ago.
The judge has asked hospitals in the region whether a medical procedure could be done to impose, under Islamic law, an equivalent punishment on the attacker.
The country enforces strict Islamic law and occasionally carries out punishments based on the ancient legal code of an eye-for-an-eye. However, King Abdullah has been trying to clamp down on extremist ideology, including unauthorized clerics issuing odd religious decrees.
Additional details: Associated Press
Amnesty International 30 March published its annual statistics on the death penalty worldwide, saying that in 2009 “at least 714 people were executed in 18 countries and at least 2001 people were sentenced to death in 56 countries,” but that the figures do not include China, which it accuses of putting to death “thousands” of people. The organization generally estimates the number of dead, but this year refuses to do so, saying it is up to China to publish its figures. China tops its lists for sentencing the most people to death, followed by “Iran with at least 388 executions, Iraq at least 120, Saudi Arabia at least 69 and the USA with 52.”
China’s Supreme Court reportedly sent guidelines to lower courts early in 2010 encouraging them to limit use of the death penalty only in the most severe cases.
Links to other sites: Amnesty International, Reuters, Xinhua
In Geneva, 24-26 February
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Money will help people off the hook in capital punishment cases, according to a round table discussion at the fourth World Congress against the Death Penalty, held in Geneva 24-26 February. That, and the victim being a foreigner makes it unlikely that he or she will be put to death. Panelists from Bahrein, Pakistan and the United States argued that “money can buy you immunity” from prosecution. “Torture and the death penalty are for the poor,” says Kamran Arif, a lawyer from Pakistan, which hands down one-third of the world’s death sentences.
A 12-year-old Saudi Arabian girl, married a year ago to an 80-year-old man, is receiving help from the country’s Human Rights Commission in what could turn out to be a test case. Marriages of young girls to older men are not uncommon in some parts of the country and are legal, but a draft law under consideration would create a minimum of 16-18 years. The girl’s mother reportedly filed for her daughter to divorce but withdrew it a month ago without explanation.
Sudden rain on a scale rarely seen in Saudi Arabia earlier this week caused floods with a death toll that has now risen to 77, according to Saudi officials, who say the worst-hit area was Jeddah, about 60km from the holy city of Mecca, Wednesday 25 November. Thousands of pilgrims making their way to Mecca for the annual Hajj were warned by the government to take extra care, with more heavy rain forecast for the area. Aljazeera reports that thousands of people are stuck in Jeddah, unable to start the trip to Mecca.
Scientists from Saudi Arabia are assessing the risks posed by the annual hajj, pilgrimage, in the spread of the A/H1N1 swine flu virus along with experts from the World Health Organization, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2009, more than 2,5 million pilgrims are expected in Saudi Arabia from 160 countries around the world for the five-day religious observance between 25-29 November, the height of the flu season. The risks are that so many people packed together in such a short time will act like a giant incubator to transmit the disease worldwide.
Saudi authorities have asked people at risk – pregnant women, young children, the elderly – not to come this year, and recommend people come vaccinated. The airports have been equipped with thermal scanners and other scanning equipment. People are encouraged to wear masks, wash hands frequently and observe “cough etiquette”. New York Times, Reuters, WHO
Oil prices rose to their highest since October 2008 in trading 24 August. A barrel of light sweet crude oil trading on the NY Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) for October delivery touched $74.81 before closing at $74.37. Traders give several reasons, chief among them the continuing demand for oil from China, which has seen a massive expansion in the number of automobiles on the road. Oil output from the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia is steady, and the onset of the hurricane season in the North Atlantic adds to supply worries. Increased optimism about the economy is driving the price of commodities higher, too. US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was cautiously optimistic about the US economy last week and said that it was nearing recovery.
Others are not so optimistic. Nouriel Roubini, a NY University professor who accurately predicted the world financial melt-down, says that growth could be anemic for several years in the major economies. He says that commodity prices are running ahead of fundamentals and sees signs of speculation in those markets. BBC, Reuters, Romandie News (Fre)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Geneva’s tourism office and political authorities are taking steps to calm the situation and in particular relations with Saudi Arabia after Geneva police confirmed 10 August that a Saudi Arabian man was beaten unconscious in Geneva and his credit cards stolen three weeks ago. Police spokesperson Jean-Philippe Brandt confirmed the news on Swiss radio station RSR. The confirmation followed strongly worded statements from Saudi Arabia’s consul general Nabil Mohamed Al-Saleh that police in Geneva have not done their job, accusations that he repeated Tuesday morning 11 August in an interview with Fribourg newspaper La Liberté. Other representatives of the Arab community in Geneva nevertheless said the situation must be kept in perspective, that Geneva does a good job of welcoming Arab tourists.
US vice president Joe Biden told ABC television Sunday 5 July that the US could not restrain Israel from taking military action if it felt threatened by a nuclear build-up in Iran. Biden has just returned from a Middle East trip. Israeli prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu has warned that Israel will not allow Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons. Israel bombed a nuclear reactor in Iraq in 1981. The Sunday Times of London reported 5 July that secret talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia raised the possibility that Israel would not be hindered if it flew through Saudi airspace on its way to Iran. BBC, Reuters
Update 17:45 FULL TEXT of Obama speech (pdf) US President Barack Obama is set to speak to the Muslim world from Cairo University in Egypt today 4 June in a major speech months in the crafting. US officials are playing down the speech’s importance, saying that years of misunderstandings between the US and the Muslim world could not be set right overnight. Obama spent yesterday with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, saying “I thought it was very important to come to the place where Islam began.”
Al Jazeera broadcast what it said was an audio tape from Osama bin Laden 3 June, which condemned US policies in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. His deputy, Egyptian Ayman Al-Zawahiri, in another tape recording called on Egyptians to reject the Obama visit. In Jerusalem, officials said they would be watching the speech carefully. Tensions have risen recently between Israel and Washington on the subject of continuing West Bank settlements.
The US government has set up a special site for people to send in SMS comments on the speech, which the State Deptartment will translate into 13 languages. NYT, BBC, Al Jazeera, Jerusalem Post
Elections to 178 local councils will be delayed two years, announced Saudi Arabia’s Council of Ministers, King Abdullah at its head, the New York Times reports 19 May. The country’s first elections were held in 2005, when men only were allowed to vote for half the representatives. The rest were appointed. Local human rights activists say they were disappointed by the decision.
A top US intelligence offical has told the NY Times that a former Yemeni detaine at Guantanamo Bay was released to Saudi Arabia, put through a rehabilitation programme – and he has has now surfaced as part of a Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda. Saudi Arabia disagrees.
