A series of twitter messages both by the Foreign Minister of Canada Ms Chrystia Freeland herself and her department criticizing the Saudi Arabian government over their human rights record and arrest of various activists has led to a serious diplomatic rift.
As a response, the Saudi government has expelled the Canadian ambassador, urged their own ambassador in Canada to return to Riyadh and froze all future trade with the north American nation.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Very alarmed to learn that Samar Badawi, Raif Badawi’s sister, has been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia. 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.</p>— Chrystia Freeland (@cafreeland) <a href="https://twitter.com/cafreeland/status/1025030172624515072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 2, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Saudi foreign ministry furthermore stated 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 kingdom announces that it is recalling its ambassador to Canada for consultation.”
Related coverage: <a href="https://thegoldwater.com/news/30068-Canada-Foreign-Minister-Freeland-On-US-Tariffs-We-will-Not-Back-Down-Video">Foreign Minister Freeland On US Tariffs: We Will Not Back Down</a>.
Related coverage:
“The Canadian position is an overt and blatant interference in the internal affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and is in contravention of the most basic international norms and all the charters governing relations between States.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">"The Saudi foreign ministry cited remarks last week by Canadian foreign minister Chrystia Freeland and the Canadian embassy in Riyadh, criticizing Saudi Arabia’s arrests of women’s rights activists" <a href="https://t.co/k412AbsIHB">https://t.co/k412AbsIHB</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MadawiDr?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MadawiDr</a></p>— Nader Hashemi (@naderalihashemi) <a href="https://twitter.com/naderalihashemi/status/1026286176842305536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 6, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia, still one of the most conservative states in the Middle East had earlier this year finally allowed driving for women and opened cinema’s to the public.
Many in the country are hailing this new wave of progress and hope the Crown Prince will do more to further improve the situation of Saudi women.
Although most Western leaders do behind closed doors not agree with the Saudi human rights record, they normally do not openly criticize the major gulf state which is still the world’s largest producer of oil.
Professor Kristian Ulrichsen, the Middle East fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy in Texas, stated that “the rupture in Saudi diplomatic relations with Canada underscores how the ‘new’ Saudi Arabia that Mohammed bin Salman is putting together is in absolutely no mood to tolerate any form of criticism of its handling of its domestic affairs.”
Public data shows that Saudi Arabia invested some $6 billion in Canadian businesses since 2006.
Source:
Twitter: #CharlotteRae #KUWTK #QAnon #TonyRenda #TheAffair #Chapman
