U.S. lawmakers urge new Saudi king to embrace human rights reforms

Saudi Arabia has a new king, and a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers took the opportunity during his transition to power to petition him to expand freedom for the people of his Sunni Islamic kingdom.

On March 3, 67 members of Congress, with the support of 17 major religious freedom and human rights organizations, wrote to King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, urging him “to serve as an advocate for human rights and democratic reforms.”

Salman rose to the throne after his brother, King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz died on Jan. 23. Abdullah had been king since 2005, although he was the de facto ruler for the previous decade as well, Reuters noted.

Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., and Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., sent the bipartisan letter to the new king, according to Amnesty International.

“Recently, and all too often, women, religious minorities, and peaceful political reformers have faced major obstacles to their desire to freely express themselves and fully participate in public life in Saudi Arabia,” the letter said.

McGovern and the other signatories also noted the treatment of religious minorities: “[P]romoting human rights and religious freedom are key objectives of U.S. foreign policy. We are aware of cases of persons who have been charged with apostasy or deported for practicing minority Muslim or Christian faiths.”

Amnesty International was one of many groups to endorse the letter. Its executive director, Steven W. Hawkins, said in a press release the king “has a critical opportunity” to enact reforms. One recommendation: free prisoners of conscience, including Raif Badawi and Waleed Abu Al-Khair.

According to The Washington Post, Badawi was sentenced in 2014 to 1,000 lashes for “insulting Islam.” He had set up a website championing free speech, where he promoted secular governance and supported the Egyptian revolution, among other things, The Guardian reported.

Authorities sentenced Al-Khair, who was Badawi’s lawyer, to 15 years in prison after the human rights attorney was tried for his activism and public statements about human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia, according to Human Rights Watch, which also endorsed the congressional letter.

The U.S. Council on Foreign Relations notes Saudi Arabia has one of the strictest interpretations of Sharia law in all Muslim countries: “Women are under the guardianship of male relatives at all times, and must be completely covered in public.” Blasphemy and apostasy are both considered crimes punishable by death in Saudi Arabia. The country ranked 12th on Open Door’s World Watch List for 2015.

According to the Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia (CDHR), the country has no freedom of religion. Only the state-sanctioned form of Islam is legal and worship is required, with severe consequences for anyone who refuses.

“Those who do not comply are subject to interrogation, humiliation, imprisonment, and flogging,” CDHR said. “If non-Muslims are caught practicing their faiths in public, they are routinely taken to filthy detention centers and left to languish under harsh conditions. If they are foreigners, they remain in these conditions until they are deported. If religious prisoners come before a court, they face a biased judicial system staffed by extremist judges, who consider non-Muslims and religious minorities to be infidels.”