Riyadh halts fresh trade ties and accuses Ottawa of ‘blatant interference’ in its affairs
Saudi Arabia has ordered the Canadian ambassador to leave the country and suspended new trade and investment with Ottawa after Canada’s foreign ministry urged Riyadh to release arrested civil rights activists.
A statement released by the Saudi Press Agency said the foreign ministry gave the Canadian ambassador 24 hours to leave the country and recalled its own ambassador to Canada, adding 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 foreign ministry tweeted.
“The kingdom announces that it is recalling its ambassador ... to Canada for consultation.”
Foreign Ministry 🇸🇦 (@KSAmofaEN) #Statement | We have been briefed by what the #Canadian foreign minister and the Canadian embassy to the #Kingdom released on what they named "civil society rights activists", and we affirm that this negative and surprising attitude is an incorrect claim.
“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,” it tweeted.
The statement came after the Canadian foreign ministry and the Canadian embassy urged the Saudi authorities to “immediately release” civil rights activists.
“We urge the Saudi authorities to immediately release them and all other peaceful human rights activists,” the Canadian embassy tweeted on Friday.
Canadian foreign ministry officials were not available for an immediate comment on Sunday.
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Last Wednesday, Human Rights Watch said Saudi Arabia had arrested women’s rights activists Samar Badawi and Nassima al-Sadah, the latest two to be swept up in a government crackdown on activists, clerics and journalists. More than a dozen women’s rights activists have been targeted since May.
On Friday, Canada said it was “gravely concerned” about the arrests of civil society and women’s rights activists in Saudi Arabia, including Badawi, the sister of jailed dissident blogger Raif Badawi.
“We urge the Saudi authorities to immediately release them and all other peaceful human rights activists,” Global Affairs Canada said on its Twitter feed.
Raif Badawi’s wife Ensaf Haidar lives in Canada and recently became a Canadian citizen.
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.
The Saudi statement said it confirmed its 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,” the statement said.
Reuters contributed to this report
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.”
Saudi Arabia will suspend new trade and investment with Canada after the North American country's foreign ministry urged Riyadh to release arrested civil rights activists, it said in a statement released to the official Saudi Press Agency on Sunday.
It also gave the Canadian ambassador 24 hours to leave the country and recalled its own ambassador to Canada, the statement by the Saudi foreign ministry said, adding it retained "its rights to take further action."
The Saudi ministry had been briefed that the Canadian foreign ministry and the Canadian embassy urged the Saudi authorities to "immediately release" civil rights activists, the statement said.
Canadian foreign ministry officials were not available for an immediate comment on Sunday.
Last Wednesday, Human Rights Watch said Saudi Arabia had arrested women's rights activists Samar Badawi and Nassima al-Sadah, the latest two to be swept up in a government crackdown on activists, clerics and journalists. More than a dozen women's rights activists have been targeted since May.
On Friday, Canada said it was "gravely concerned" about the arrests of civil society and women's rights activists in Saudi Arabia, including Badawi, the sister of jailed dissident blogger Raif Badawi.
"We urge the Saudi authorities to immediately release them and all other peaceful human rights activists," Global Affairs Canada said on its Twitter feed.
Raif Badawi's wife Ensaf Haidar lives in Canada and recently became a Canadian citizen.
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.
The Saudi statement said it confirmed its 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," the statement said.
In 2014, the Canadian unit of U.S. weapons maker General Dynamics Corp won a contract worth up to $13 billion to build light-armored vehicles for Saudi Arabia, in what Ottawa said at the time was the largest advanced manufacturing export win in Canadian history.
Saudi Arabia has ordered the Canadian ambassador to leave the kingdom after Ottawa criticised the arrest of women’s rights activists in the ultra-conservative kingdom.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry also said it was freezing "all new business" between the two states and had withdrawn its own ambassador.
"Any other attempt to interfere with our internal affairs from Canada means that we are allowed to interfere in Canada’s internal affairs,” it declared in an extraordinary statement.
The spat, on Sunday night, came after Canada’s diplomatic department tweeted about the detention of activists in the Middle Eastern country on Friday.
“Canada is gravely concerned about additional arrests of civil society and women’s rights activists in Saudi Arabia, including Samar Badawi,” it posted. “We urge the Saudi authorities to immediately release them and all other peaceful human rights activists.
Ms Badawi, arrested last week, is a lawyer and sister to blogger Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison in 2012 for criticising clerics. His wife Ensaf Haidar and three children now live in Quebec.
In a statement following Saudi Arabia’s actions, Marie-Pier Baril, a spokeswoman for Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, said: "Canada will always stand up for the protection of human rights, very much 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."
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Syria's army entered rebel-held parts of Daraa city, state media said, raising the national flag in the cradle of the uprising that sparked the country's seven-year war, following a deal for rebels to hand over their heavy weapons in Daraa al-Balad and other opposition-held parts of the city AFP 26/52 11 July 2018 US President Donald Trump and Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg attend a bilateral breakfast ahead of the NATO Summit in Brussels Reuters 27/52 10 July 2018 The last four Thai Navy SEALs come out safely after completing the rescue mission inside a cave where 12 boys and their soccer coach have been trapped since June 23, in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand. 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In nine prefectures in western and southwestern Japan, authorities issued evacuation orders to more than one million of people in southwestern and western Japan EPA 31/52 6 July 2018 An honour guard hold up a picture of Samarn Kunan, 38, a former member of Thailand's elite navy SEAL unit who died working to save 12 boys and their soccer coach trapped inside a flooded cave, at an airport in Rayong province, Thailand Reuters 32/52 5 July 2018 The International Space Station, center, passes in front of the Moon in its Earth orbit as photographed from Salgotarjan, Hungary MTI via AP 33/52 4 July 2018 Former Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak (C) arrives at Kuala Lumpur High Court in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Malaysia's former prime minister Najib Razak appeared in court to face graft charges linked to the the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal EPA 34/52 3 July 2018 Rescue workers come out from the Tham Luang cave complex, as members of under-16 soccer team and their coach have been found alive according to a local media's report, in the northern province of Chiang Rai, Thailand Reuters 35/52 2 July 2018 Firefighters scramble to control flames surrounding a fire truck as the Pawnee fire jumps across highway 20 near Clearlake Oaks, California Getty 36/52 1 July 2018 Presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador greets supporters as he arrives at a polling station during the presidential election in Mexico City Reuters 37/52 30 June 2018 North Korea leader Kim Jong Un inspects Unit 1524 of the Korean People's Army (KPA) KCNA via Reuters 38/52 29 June 2018 Mount Agung's crater glows red from the lava as it spews volcanic smoke on Bali Island. The Indonesian tourist island closed its international airport, stranding thousands of travelers, as the Mount Agung volcano gushed a 2,500-meter (8,200-feet) column of ash and smoke AP 39/52 28 June 2018 The remains of market stalls smoulder after a fire swept through a marketplace in Nairobi, Kenya. Several people have died in the fire and about 70 are receiving hospital treatment, with rescue teams left searching through the scene AP 40/52 27 June 2018 Smoke rises in the rebel-held town of Nawa in southern Syria during airstrikes by Syrian regime forces. Syria's army launched an assault on the flashpoint southern city of Daraa state media said, after a week of deadly bombardment on the nearby countryside caused mass displacement. Government forces have set their sights on retaking the south of the country, a strategic area that borders Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights Getty 41/52 26 June 2018 French President Emmanuel Macron greets Pope Francis at the end of a private audience at the Vatican Getty 42/52 25 June 2018 The frame of an abandoned Peugeot 404 rests in Niger's Tenere desert region of the south central Sahara on Sunday, June 3, 2018. Once a well-worn roadway for overlander tourists, the highway 4,500 kilometers (2,800 miles) are a favored path for migrants heading north in hopes of a better life and more recently thousands who are being expelled south from Algeria AP 43/52 24 June 2018 Saudi women celebrate after they drove their cars in Al Khobar after the law allowing women to drive took effect. Saudi Arabia will allow women to drive from June 24, ending the world's only ban on female motorists Reuters 44/52 23 June 2018 People gather as the injured are helped by medics at the scene of an explosion during a rally to support the country's new reformist prime minister Abiy Ahmed in Meskel Square in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Reports say the blast occurred shortly after he addressed thousands of his supporters. He then spoke to the crowd afterwards, saying a people had been killed EPA 45/52 22 June 2018 Participants of the Dark Mofo Nude Solstice Swim are seen in the River Derwent at dawn, in Hobart, Australia Reuters 46/52 21 June 2018 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi participates in a mass yoga session along with other practitioners to mark International Yoga Day at the Forest Research Institute (FRI) in Dehradun. Tens of thousands of yoga practitioners worldwide on June 21 are expected to celebrate the fourth annual International Yoga Day, first proposed by the Indian PM in 2014 to the UN General Assembly and adopted unanimously Getty 47/52 20 June 2018 A woman and child are told they will have to wait before crossing the US border as confusion sets in following the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy on immigration Getty 48/52 19 June 2018 People wave a banner with a picture of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a gathering of supporters of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Istanbul, Turkey,. Turkish President Erdogan announced on 18 April that Turkey will hold snap presidential and parliamentary elections on 24 June 2018, after elections were scheduled to be held in November 2019 EPA 49/52 18 June 2018 Residents pass by a temple gate collapsed by an earthquake in Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture, western Japan. The earthquake, which struck western Japan, killed three people and injured more than 50 EPA 50/52 17 June 2018 Juan Carlos Osorio, manager of Mexico's national football team, celebrates their World Cup victory against Germany Getty 51/52 16 June 2018 Kashmiri youths through stones during clashes between protestors and Indian government forces in Srinagar Getty 52/52
Saudi Arabia ended its long practice of not allowing women to drive in June. However, many activists who had campaigned for the change were subsequently arrested in a crackdown which analysts said was intended as a signal that only King Salman and his powerful son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, would decide the pace of modernisation in the country.
It was not immediately clear on Monday what new Saudi-Canada business would be affected by the announced freeze but trade between the two nations reached $3 billion in 2016, according to the Press Association, with tanks among Canada’s top exports to the kingdom and oil among its biggest imports.
Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 encompasses a host of social and economic reforms which have been unveiled since Mohammed bin Salman was appointed crown prince by his father last June. The moves are designed to eventually wean the kingdom off dependence on oil.
The 32-year-old has reined in the power of the country's notorious religious police, reopened cinemas and promised a return to a more “moderate” Islam.
Critics have said the reforms are a carrot for the Saudi public ahead of the economic hardship they inevitably face in future and point out the decrees do not go as far as addressing the kingdom’s strict laws on freedom of expression, assembly, or the liberal use of capital punishment.
“Canadian foreign minister Freeland’s tweet calling for women’s rights activists to be released was by no means interference in Saudi Arabia’s internal affairs. It was a defence of universal human rights agreed to globally and binding on Saudi Arabia,” Middle East Director of Campaigns at Amnesty International, Samah Hadid, told The Independent.
“Saudi Arabia’s response should be to end its crackdown on human rights activists and free the women human rights defenders and all other prisoners of conscience, not to lash out with punitive diplomatic and trade sanctions.
“Now is the time for other governments, like the UK and US to join Canada in increasing the pressure for genuine, lasting human rights reforms in Saudi Arabia.”
