Rights abuser Bahraini government defends Saudi rights record
Bahrain, with a mega case of human rights violations, has rushed to defend Saudi Arabia against growing criticism of its human rights abuse record.
Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday issued a statement claiming that all people in Saudi Arabia are benefiting from all kinds of liberties and rights.
The statement was in response to remarks by Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström, who has repeatedly slammed the kingdom for applying medieval methods of punishment against the women, the dissent and activists.
Manama’s statement described the remarks as “flagrant interference in the domestic affairs of and an absolutely-rejected tampering with the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its judicial system.”
It claimed that Riyadh offers all humans all kinds of liberties and rights “based on justice, mercy and equality.”
The remarks by Wallström (pictured above) in January triggered a series of tit-for-tat diplomatic actions between Riyadh and Stockholm. In their most recent efforts, Saudi Arabia on Monday threatened it would revise relations with Sweden after Riyadh recalled the kingdom’s envoy from the country.
Saudi Arabian troops entered Bahrain in March 2011 to help the Manama regime silence the protests. The government in Riyadh has since then supported the violent suppression of peaceful protests in Bahrain, which is now trying to return the favor by wading into a deepening diplomatic row between Saudi Arabia and Sweden.
Manama’s all-out support for the rights situation in Saudi Arabia comes as Bahrain itself is facing massive criticism for violations of human rights and freedom of speech.
The Manama regime has been using fatal heavy-handed measures to crack down on peaceful protesters since February 2011. Hundreds of protesters and rights activists, including major opposition figures, remain behind bars in Bahrain’s notorious prisons.
Human rights advocates have repeatedly called for an end to the oppressive treatment of dissent in Bahrain, which gained a new momentum in December 2014 after Manama arrested the senior opposition leader, Sheikh Ali Salman.
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