Human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan overlooked

Although a summit occurred recently between Saudi Arabia’s minister and president of the Saudi Supreme Human Rights Commission and Pakistan’s federal minister for human rights, the two countries are still responsible for major human rights abuses, writes Nir Boms, Vice President of the Center for Freedom in the Middle East, in a Washington Times op-ed on March 7. Saudi Arabia, Boms asserts, is “a world leader in human rights violations and Pakistan is not far behind.”

Boms cites various examples of rights violations in Saudi Arabia, such as evidence of secret detention centers holding individuals arrested for speaking up against the government. There have also been two recent beheadings, bringing this year’s toll to 27 – last year’s was 158.

Regarding Pakistan, after a State of Emergency was declared recently, the Pakistani Constitution has not been upheld, resulting in individuals being arrested and detained with neither charge nor trial. The Pakistani police have also been kidnapping and then murdering individuals, a practice labeled “encounter killings.”

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are “officially western allies,” and “the United States has a chance to make a difference, albeit a small one, by asking some probing questions,” Boms concludes.

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