MP calls for Government action on Saudi human rights record

Neil Gerrard, Labour MP for Walthamstow was a signatory on a joint letter from a number of Labour MPs and Trade Union leaders to the Independent newspaper voicing their concern over the Saudi Arabian King’s state visit to the UK.

“Saudi Arabia is ruled by one of the most repressive dictatorships on the planet” said Mr Gerrard. “Political parties, trade unions and independent media are banned; there are no free elections; and Saudis face arbitrary arrest, torture, detention without due legal process and even death. Women are deprived of their most basic human rights and gay men face barbaric repression.”

“The letter was sent as we believe that there is a conspiracy of silence about the human rights abuses being perpetrated by the Saudi regime. Western governments continue to fund and arm these cruel dictators. Just recently, Britain intervened to prevent a corruption probe into a previous arms deal for fear of embarrassing the Saudi dictatorship.”

“The British Government has rightly criticised the human rights abuses committed by the dictatorships in Burma and Zimbabwe. No-one is speaking out about Saudi Arabia which is ruled by a regime that is no less autocratic. We fear that our government is sending the message that those tyrannies which support Western interests and continue to supply us with oil and buy our weapons are immune from criticism and can act with impunity. We are therefore urging the Government to speak out about the human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia and to base its foreign policy on human rights rather than narrow economic interests.”

November 2007

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