US President Donald Trump with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. credit Reuters
Saudi Arabia Country Report 2024
Saudi Arabia is an Arab Sunni Muslim absolute monarchy led by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS). The dominant groups that face persecution in Saudi Arabia are Shia Muslims, women, migrant workers, and critics of the government and royal family.
In 2023, Freedom House ranked Saudi Arabia as the world’s seventh most authoritarian regime.
There is no religious freedom in Saudi Arabia. Christians may not build churches or worship in public. Saudi Arabia finances madrassas around the world that teach religious intolerance and violent jihad.
Women have almost no independent civil rights. They are legally dependents of their husbands.
Saudi Arabia's normalization of relations with Syria’s dictator, Bashar Assad, is of particular concern. Syria was welcomed back into the Arab League during a summit in Saudi Arabia, with MBS’s support. Saudi Arabia reopened its embassy in Damascus in September 2024.
Saudi Arabia halted normalization with Israel under the 2020 Abraham Accords when Israel attacked Gaza in the war that began after Hamas’ genocidal massacre of October 7, 2023. In September 2024 Crown Prince MBS announced that diplomatic relations with Israel would not be possible without the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have bombed Yemen’s Shia Houthis and blockaded Yemen’s ports to restore Yemen’s Sunni government in exile. Saudi bombing is supported by its purchases of US Raytheon missiles and US fighter bombers as well as massive arms purchases from the UK. The UN estimated in 2020 that over 233,000 civilians had died in the war. At least twice as many have died since then. Starvation is a war crime, crime against humanity, and an act of genocide.
Saudi bombing lessened after Saudi acceptance of the Grundberg Peace Plan. But the plan is rejected by Houthis, who continue their Iranian backed missile attacks on Israel and on shipping in the Red Sea.
The Saudi border with Yemen is a major smuggling route for African refugees who are attempting to reach Europe. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Mixed Migration Centre report that Saudi border guards routinely beat, sexually abuse, detain, deport, and murder refugees. The reports document the murders by Saudi security forces of 869 Ethiopians as well as critical injuries to over a thousand more in 2022-2023. Saudi officials have faced no sanctions for these crimes against humanity.
LGBTQ+ persons are persecuted in Saudi Arabia, where their status and actions are criminalized. In its bid to host FIFA 2034 Saudi Arabia’s sports minister pledged that all guests to FIFA 2034 will be welcome, including those with LGBTQ+ orientation. However, today LGBTQ+ persons are regularly jailed.
Human Rights Watch reports that 2 football fans were imprisoned because of a Shia chant in March 2024. Shia Muslims have faced discrimination and violence for centuries in Saudi Arabia.
HRW reports persistent mistreatment of migrant workers who construct most buildings and roads and are service workers in Saudi homes. Many are held in virtual indentured servitude by Saudi employers. Violations include deceptive recruitment, beatings and other physical mistreatment, underpayment, overwork, and confiscation of passports to prevent escape. American and French companies have also exploited migrants, including Amazon in 2023 and Carrefour in 2024.
Saudi Arabia was one of only eight nations that abstained from voting for the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, due to Article 18 which states that everyone has the right "to change his religion or belief", and Article 16 on equal marriage rights.
MBS’s alleged orders to torture, murder and dismember Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, and MBS’s orders to bomb and starve Yemen’s Houthis violate the Convention Against Torture and the Genocide Convention, both of which permit no immunity for heads of state.
US State Department lawyers wrongly prevailed on a US court to grant MBS such head of state immunity in a lawsuit by Khashoggi’s widow.
The US, most nations in the EU, and all 174 states-parties to the Torture Convention and 153 States-Parties to the Genocide Convention are obligated to try or extradite torturers and genocidists no matter where their crimes were perpetrated. Neither convention grants head of state immunity. Saudi Arabia has been a state-party to the Genocide Convention since 1950 and a state-party to the Torture Convention since 1997.
Genocide Watch considers Saudi Arabia to be at Stages 1 Classification of Shia Muslims; 2 Symbolization: prohibition of Christian churches; 3 Discrimination against Shia and migrants; 4 Dehumanization of Shia as heretics or infidels and of migrants as hereditary servants with no civil rights; 5 Organization of Security Services to arrest dissenters and to murder royal critics; 6 Polarization against Shia Muslims; 7 Preparation by arming with US and UK Raytheon missiles and war planes for bombing Yemen; Support for Wahabi madrassas that preach hatred for Shias and Christians; 8 Persecution of Shias, Christians, and women; 9 Extermination of Shia Houthis in Yemen; and 10 Denial that Saudi Arabia is committing any crimes against humanity, war crimes, or genocide.
Genocide Watch Recommendations:
· Suspend US Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia: Reinstate the US Congress’s legal suspension of US offensive weapons sales to Saudi Arabia until investigations into civilian harm and human rights violations are completed.
· Protest normalization of Saudi relations with Syria’s Assad: Condition strong US relations with Saudi Arabia on reversal of Saudi initiatives to normalize relations with the Assad regime, which legitimize Syria’s history of genocide and crimes against humanity.
· Charge Saudi Arabia in the International Court of Justice with violation of the UN Convention Against Torture and the UN Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. States-Parties to the Torture and Genocide Conventions should file cases in the International Court of Justice for Saudi Arabia’s violations of those treaties.