Riyadh halts fresh trade ties and warns Ottawa it may take further action
Saudi Arabia has expelled the Canadian ambassador and suspended new trade and investment with Ottawa after Canada’s foreign ministry urged Riyadh to release arrested civil rights activists.
The Saudi foreign ministry has given Dennis Horak 24 hours to leave the country and recalled its own ambassador to Canada, saying that it retained “its rights to take further action”.
“The kingdom of Saudi Arabia ... will not accept interference in its internal affairs or imposed diktats from any country,” the ministry tweeted. “The Canadian position is an overt and blatant interference in the internal affairs of the Kingdom of #SaudiArabia and is in contravention of the most basic international norms and all the charters governing relations between states.”
Saudi state television later reported that the education ministry was coming up with an “urgent plan” to move thousands of Saudi scholarship students out of Canadian schools to take classes in other countries. Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates publicly backed Saudi Arabia in the dispute.
The dispute is believed to have been initiated by Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s 32-year-old crown prince, whose recent foreign policy exploits include the war in Yemen and alleged orchestration of the Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri’s resignation during a visit to the kingdom. Hariri later rescinded the surprise resignation and returned to Beirut.
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On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch said Saudi Arabia had arrested the women’s rights activists Samar Badawi and Nassima al-Sadah. The arrests were the latest in a government crackdown on activists, clerics and journalists. More than a dozen women’s rights activists have been targeted since May.
Most of those arrested campaigned for the right to drive and an end to the country’s male guardianship system, which requires women to obtain the consent of a male relative for major decisions.
On Friday, Canada said it was gravely concerned about the arrests, including Badawi’s. Her brother Raif Badawi, a dissident blogger, has been imprisoned since 2012. His wife, Ensaf Haidar, lives in Canada and recently became a Canadian citizen.
Analysts described the dispute as part of a wider pushback against external criticism, noting the ultraconservative kingdom’s newly aggressive foreign policy.
“This message is obviously not just being sent to Ottawa,” said Giorgio Cafiero, the chief executive of Gulf State Analytics, a Washington-based risk consultancy. “It’s a message to countries across Europe and across the rest of the world that criticism of Saudi Arabia has consequences.”
Germany similarly has found itself targeted by the kingdom in recent months over comments by its officials on the Saudi-led war in Yemen, while in 2015, Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador to Sweden and stopped issuing work visas for Swedes after the country’s foreign affairs minister criticised a court decision concerning Raif Badawi.
Ali Shihabi, the founder of the Washington-based Arabia Foundation, pointed to domestic concerns in both Canada and Saudi Arabia to explain the row. Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau – under fire for signing off on the sale of more than 900 armoured vehicles to Riyadh – is looking to “defend himself from criticism by grandstanding and issuing tough statements,” Shihabi said in an email.
The crown prince, on the other hand, “sees himself as managing an unprecedented and delicate reform process and doesn’t want outside denunciations making it more difficult, let alone from allies who are beneficiaries of Saudi monies”.
Shihabi said Riyadh’s actions suggest authorities are more concerned about managing the politics surrounding the reform process than public relations.
In a statement, the Saudi foreign ministry said it confirmed the kingdom’s commitment to refrain from intervening in the internal matters of other countries, including Canada, and in return rejected any intervention in its domestic affairs and internal relations with its citizens.
“Any further step from the Canadian side in that direction will be considered as acknowledgment of our right to interfere in the Canadian domestic affairs,” it said.
Soon after, a surge of Saudi Twitter accounts began expressing concerns over Canada’s treatment of indigenous peoples and support for Quebec’s sovereignty movement, as first reported by Buzzfeed. Others noted the striking similarity in the language being used in the tweets.
Normally, any dispute between Saudi Arabia and Canada would see the United States side with its northern neighbour. But as Bessma Momani, a political science professor at Canada’s University of Waterloo, noted, the kingdom has enjoyed closer relations with Donald Trump, while the American president has taken aim at Trudeau.
“But is Trump relishing in this attempt to slight Trudeau? Did Saudis clear this with DC first?,” she wrote on Twitter. “Odd questions to ask, but we live in odd times.”
On Monday, a spokeswoman for the Canadian foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, said Canada was “seriously concerned” by Saudi Arabia’s actions.
“Canada will always stand up for the protection of human rights, very much including women’s rights, and freedom of expression around the world,” she said. “Our government will never hesitate to promote these values and believes that this dialogue is critical to international diplomacy.”
Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report
Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy whose legal system is based on the strict enforcement of Sharia, or Islamic law, has long faced complaints from Western governments and rights organizations over many of its judicial practices, including beheading criminals and imprisoning people who criticize the government.
Image Samar Badawi has a long history of campaigning against Saudi laws. Credit Anders Wiklund/EPA, via Shutterstock
Historically, such complaints have been handled quietly in Riyadh, without ramifications for countries that expressed concerns. The reason for the strong public reaction on Monday was not immediately clear.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s 33-year-old de facto ruler, is pushing for vast social and economic changes in the country.
Since emerging from the shadows when his father, King Salman, took the throne in 2015, he has granted women the right the drive, opened movie theaters and expanded entertainment options in the ultraconservative kingdom. He has also worked to soften the image and implementation of the kingdom’s official school of Islam, known abroad as Wahhabism.
Critics say that these changes have been accompanied by an authoritarian streak that brooks no criticism. Under Prince Mohammed’s watch, the kingdom has locked up clerics and activists and imprisoned businessmen in the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton on accusations of corruption.
Even as the kingdom granted women the right to drive, it has detained more than a dozen prominent women and men who had campaigned for the right. Others were told not to speak about it in the media or face consequences.
Image copyright AFP Image caption Samar Badawi, pictured here with Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton, received an International Women of Courage Award in 2012
Saudi Arabia has said it is freezing all new trade with Canada and expelling its ambassador over its "interference" in the kingdom's domestic affairs.
A Saudi foreign ministry statement said it considered Canada's call last week for the release of detained civil society and women's rights activists a violation of Saudi sovereignty.
Those held include the Saudi-American human rights campaigner Samar Badawi, sister of jailed blogger Raif Badawi.
Canada said it was seeking "clarity".
However, foreign ministry spokeswoman Marie-Pier Baril stressed that Canada would "always stand up for the protection of human rights... including women's rights, and freedom of expression around the world".
"Our government will never hesitate to promote these values and believes that this dialogue is critical to international diplomacy," she added.
The leading Saudi women's rights campaigner Manal al-Sharif thanked Canada for "speaking up" and asked when other Western powers would do the same.
But Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir tweeted that Canada's position was based on "misleading information", adding that anyone arrested was "subject to Saudi laws that guarantee their rights".
Who is being held?
Last Tuesday, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said at least 15 human rights defenders and women's rights activists critical of the Saudi government had been arrested or detained arbitrarily since 15 May.
Eight of them are believed to have been released pending "procedural reviews", but the whereabouts of several others are unknown.
Among those reportedly still being held are Hatoon al-Fassi, a leading voice for women's participation in civil life; human rights defender Khaled al-Omair; women's rights activists Loujain al-Hathloul, Eman al-Nafjan, Aziza al-Yousef, Nouf Abdulaziz and Mayaa al-Zahrani; Ms Hathloul's 80-year-old lawyer, Ibrahim al-Modaimeegh; and the activist Abdulaziz Meshaal.
Several of those detained have been accused of serious crimes, including "suspicious contact with foreign parties", and could face up to 20 years in prison.
Human rights groups reported that Ms Badawi was also detained last week, along with fellow women's rights campaigner Nassima al-Sadah.
Ms Badawi was given the US International Women of Courage Award in 2012 and is known for challenging Saudi Arabia's male guardianship system. Her brother's wife, Ensaf Haidar, lives in Canada and recently became a Canadian citizen.
Raif Badawi was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for "insulting Islam" online back in 2014.
What did Canada say?
Image copyright AFP Image caption Chrystia Freeland called for the release of Samar Badawi and her brother Raif
Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland wrote on Twitter on Thursday that she was "very alarmed" to learn that Ms Badawi had been detained.
"Canada stands together with the Badawi family in this difficult time, and we continue to strongly call for the release of both Raif and Samar Badawi."
The next day, the Canadian foreign ministry called for their "immediate release".
Skip Twitter post by @CanadaFP Canada is gravely concerned about additional arrests of civil society and women’s rights activists in #SaudiArabia, including Samar Badawi. We urge the Saudi authorities to immediately release them and all other peaceful #humanrights activists. — Foreign Policy CAN (@CanadaFP) August 3, 2018 Report
How did Saudi Arabia react?
The Saudi foreign ministry statement expressed "disbelief [at] this negative unfounded comment, which was not based [on] any accurate or true information".
It insisted the activists were being detained lawfully and that the Canadian statements represented "blatant interference in the kingdom's domestic affairs" and "a major, unacceptable affront to the kingdom's laws and judicial process".
The ministry recalled its ambassador to Canada for consultations and declared the Canadian ambassador persona non grata, giving him 24 hours to leave.
Saudi Arabia would also "put on hold all new business and investment transactions with Canada while retaining its right to take further action", it said. Trade between the two countries was worth $3bn (£2.3bn) in 2016.
It also announced it was suspending all scholarships enabling Saudi students to study in Canada. Students already in the country would be relocated. It is unclear how many people this will affect, however, the Vancouver Sun said in 2015 about 5,000 news students arrive from Saudi Arabia each year.
The BBC's Martin Patience in Beirut says the surprise expulsion of the Canadian ambassador highlights the increasingly aggressive - and at times erratic - foreign policy being pursued by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.
He has introduced a raft of headline-grabbing reforms, such as lifting the ban on women being allowed to drive. But, our correspondent adds, during the recent crackdown on activists he has also shown that he will not tolerate dissent.
The rich kids of Saudi Arabia know how to live, and they love to flaunt their luxurious lifestyles all over social media.
SAUDI Arabia said Monday it was expelling the Canadian ambassador and had recalled its envoy while freezing all new trade, in protest at Ottawa’s vigorous calls for the release of jailed activists.
The kingdom gave the Canadian ambassador 24 hours to leave the country, in an abrupt rupture of relations over what it slammed as “interference” in its internal affairs.
The move, which underscores a newly aggressive foreign policy led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, comes after Canada demanded the immediate release of human rights campaigners swept up in a recent crackdown.
“The Canadian position is an overt and blatant interference in the internal affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the Saudi foreign ministry tweeted.
“The kingdom announces that it is recalling its ambassador to Canada for consultation. We consider the Canadian ambassador to the kingdom persona non grata and order him to leave within the next 24 hours.”
“The Canadian position is a grave and unacceptable violation of the Kingdom’s laws and procedures. In addition to violate the Kingdom’s judiciary and a breach of the principle of sovereignty.
“KSA through its history has not and will not accept any form of interfering in the internal affairs of the Kingdom. The KSA considers the Canadian position an attack on the KSA and requires a firm stance to deter who attempts to undermine the sovereignty of the KSA.
“Any other attempt to interfere with our internal affairs from #Canada, means that we are allowed to interfere in Canada’s internal affairs.”
#Statement | The negative and surprising attitude of #Canada is an entirely false claim and utterly incorrect. — Foreign Ministry 🇸🇦 (@KSAmofaEN) August 5, 2018
The ministry also announced “the freezing of all new trade and investment transactions with Canada while retaining its right to take further action”.
Canada last week said it was “gravely concerned” over a new wave of arrests of women and human rights campaigners in the kingdom, including award-winning gender rights activist Samar Badawi.
Canada is gravely concerned about additional arrests of civil society and women’s rights activists in #SaudiArabia, including Samar Badawi. We urge the Saudi authorities to immediately release them and all other peaceful #humanrights activists. — Foreign Policy CAN (@CanadaFP) August 3, 2018
The move on Sunday came after Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland tweeted on Thursday that Canada was “very alarmed” to learn Saudi authorities have arrested Samar Badawi, the sister of jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, along with prominent activist Nassima al-Sada.
“Canada stands together with the Badawi family in this difficult time, and we continue to strongly call for the release of both Raif and Samar Badawi,” Freeland tweeted.
“We urge the Saudi authorities to immediately release them and all other peaceful #humanrights activists,” the foreign ministry tweeted on Friday.
Badawi was arrested along with fellow campaigner Nassima al-Sadah last week, the latest victims of what Human Rights Watch called an “unprecedented government crackdown on the women’s rights movement”.
The arrests come weeks after more than a dozen women’s right campaigners were detained and accused of undermining national security and collaborating with enemies of the state. Some have since been released.
The Saudi foreign ministry voiced anger over the Canadian statement. “Using the phrase ‘immediately release’ in the Canadian statement is very unfortunate, reprehensible, and unacceptable in relations between States,” the ministry tweeted.
Prince Mohammed, heir to the region’s most powerful throne, has introduced a string of reforms such as lifting a decades-long ban on women drivers in a bid to improve the kingdom’s austere image as it prepares for a post-oil era.
But the 32-year-old has simultaneously pursued an aggressive foreign policy, while cracking down on dissent and cementing his grip on power.
“The rupture in Saudi diplomatic relations with Canada reinforces how the ‘new’ Saudi Arabia that Mohammed bin Salman is putting together is in no mood to tolerate any form of criticism of its handling of domestic affairs,” said Kristian Ulrichsen, a fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute in the US.
In April, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed his “serious concern” over the continued jailing of Badawi to Saudi King Salman.
Badawi’s wife Ensaf Haidar has been granted asylum by Canada, where she is raising their three children now aged 14, 13 and 10 as a single mother.
Riyadh’s expulsion of the Canadian ambassador was meant to send a strong message to other critical Western governments, observers say.
“Canada is easier to cut ties with than the rest,” Bessma Momani, a professor at Canada’s University of Waterloo, told AFP.
“There isn’t a strong bilateral trade relationship and poking the Trudeau government likely resonates with Saudi’s hawkish regional allies. At jeopardy, are the tens of thousands of Saudi students in Canada.”
