The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia repeated its denial of human rights violations in its response to the speech of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, on the status of human rights throughout the world, including in Saudi Arabia, at the 43rd session of the Human Rights Council.
In a comment from the Saudi government’s representative, Mr. Meshaal al-Balawi, Saudi Arabia stated that the arbitrary arrest operations referred to by the High Commissioner are not linked to the enjoyment of human rights but rather to people who violated the law.
Saudi Arabia’s claims contradict the facts shown in the indictments and charges directed at the detainees, many of them revealed by ESOHR. They confirm the charges are linked to the exercise of legitimate rights such as expression of opinions, participation in demonstrations, and the exercise of religious liberties.
In its response, Saudi Arabia said that it guarantees free and fair trials and that activists are not above the law, thus confirming that Saudi Arabia tries peaceful activists. Furthermore, it did not respond to reports of ill treatment and torture of male and female detainees with the goal of extracting confessions. Nor did the government respond to what the High Commissioner said about lack of impartial trials, detainees’ deprivation of fundamental rights such as self-defense, as well as lack of an independent judiciary.
With clear disregard for the report issued by the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings—which indicated the culpability of high Saudi officials for the crime—Saudi Arabia reiterated its claims regarding the trial of the killers of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying that it had done everything to ensure the legality of the trials. The government also ignored complaints about the violations and abuses that marred the trial run by a non-independent judiciary.
ESOHR thanks the High Commissioner for her stances in support of human rights in Saudi Arabia and stresses that the Saudi government’s repeated disregard for the Commissioner’s recommendations and demands, and its ongoing violations and crimes, require greater pressure and the use of additional mechanisms.