News / Interviews

Saudi Arabia must be held accountable for crimes: Stephen Lendman

Wednesday, 07 September 2016 5:48 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 07 September 2016 5:48 PM ]

Saudi emergency personnel stand near the bodies of Hajj pilgrims at the site of a human crush in Mina, near the holy city of Mecca, September 24, 2015. AFP

Press TV has interviewed Stephen Lendman, author and radio host from Chicago.

Following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: The Iranian president has called on countries in the region and the Muslim world to coordinate punitive measures against the Saudi government. In your opinion, where should they start?

Lendman: I certainly agree with President Rouhani that something should be done, both coordinating countries in the region and also Western countries led by America. But the problem is that these countries are Saudi allies.

The fact that Saudi Arabia is so rich in oil and supporting America’s war ‘of’ terror not 'on' terror but of terror against various countries of the region, the obvious ones we know: Syria, Yemen, so on.

So there really is nothing that would be done to go with Saudi Arabia to hold it accountable or other countries of the region that are supporting America’s agenda.

Press TV: And he also highlighted last year’s Mina tragedy in which large numbers of pilgrims were killed. President Rouhani said that incident was just another stain on Saudi Arabia’s track record in addition to Riyadh’s past crimes. Talk to us about that as well.

Lendman: Absolutely it shows that the Saudis have absolutely no interest in human rights or human lives, just absolute contempt. If they’re willing to let hundreds of thousands die because of their lack of concern, their lack of doing the right thing, that can easily be done.

This simply is no reason that any number of people … should result in the kind of catastrophe that happened in Mina. It’s the Saudis’ fault and they should be held accountable and of course they won’t be.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk