Saudis Living In Exile In UK Face Death Threats; Government 'Turning A Blind Eye' (SaudiEmbassyUK)
The Saudis who are living in exile in UK reported about threats to their lives and harassment over their support for improvements in human rights in their home country, said a media report. They said they have faced a barrage of threats and abuse after speaking out on rights and the Saudi authorities’ imprisoning of women’s rights activists.
In one incident, a knife was left outside of the London home of a human rights activist. His wife and son were approached separately and told that if they disagreed with his views, they could get help from the Saudi embassy, as reported by The Guardian.
Yahya Assiri, who has run the human rights organisation ALQST (al-qist: “justice” in Arabic) since 2014, said, “For the first time, the threat felt real”.
Russia, Iran, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia has reportedly been identified by activists as one of the biggest perpetrators of attacks on people outside its borders in a tactic known as transnational repression. It aims to stifle debate or criticism from exiles and refugees who have fled abroad.
Read also: Did Saudi Arabia Ended ‘Petrodollar Deal’ With US? What Do We Know
Riyadh has been trying hard to present itself as a progressive state since the murder of journalist Jamal Khahsoggi, by a Saudi hit squad at its consulate in Istanbul in 2018. The country had spent billions in tackling deals and promoting tourism. It was recently named as host of a UN commission on women’s rights, despite what Amnesty International called its “abysmal” record on women’s rights.
A US-based human rights organisation, Freedom House, has reported at least half a dozen threats to life to Saudis living in exile in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.
“If they decide to go after you, there’s no place that’s really safe. When they decide to kidnap someone, they can do it in any country. They murdered Jamal (Khashoggi) and now it’s business as usual. They were never held accountable (for the killing)”, said the Saudi journalist and film-maker Safa al-Ahmad, as quoted by The Guardian.
The Saudi exiles living in UK and elsewhere also fear about the safety of their relatives still living in the Kingdom. Activists say the Saudi authorities retaliate against family members in an effort to coerce those living in exile to return to the country.
Joey Shea, Saudi Arabia researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: “It’s very rare that they’ve managed to get their whole family out of Saudi, so those who remain are extremely vulnerable. The physical risks here (UK) and the risk to family members back in Saudi Arabia are huge”.
She added that Saudi Arabia has pioneered a lot of the transnational repression we see today, including using death sentences and decades-long sentences in retaliation against people whose family members are active abroad.
One of the sisters of Fawzia al-Otaibi, who was forced to flee the country over her social media posts in support of women’s rights, was banned from leaving Saudi Arabia, while another sister was jailed for 11 years.
“I believe they are punishing and torturing my sisters because they are unable to punish me… “Almost daily [I am receiving] death threats saying that they will poison me and send people loyal to their homeland to kill me at any cost, so that no one will imitate me”, she said.
“They tell me I’m a traitor not just for the purpose of saying it as a kind of bullying, because that’s exactly what they said about Khashoggi. And if they call a person a traitor, it means that they threaten to punish [them] as a traitor, which is to kill,” she added.
Last week, brother of one of Saudi critic, who is living in exile in UK, had been sentenced to 20 years in prison for social media posts that are critical of the government policies.
When The Guardian contacted the Metropolitan police to comment on the alleged “unseriousness” of the police response to complaints received from Saudi dissidents, a police spokesperson said they were dealing with a growing number of cases relating to foreign interference and that any allegations of crime were investigated, with individuals provided with “appropriate safety and security advice and support as required”.
