Government to Welcome Saudi King, Famed Dictator of Oppressive Regime.
Today I tabled an Early Day Motion in Parliament protesting at the upcoming state visit of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.
I tabled the motion because like many others I am angry that the Government will be paying the Saudi king a warm welcome while thousands of incarcerated Saudis face the most brutal forms of torture and the threat of public execution.
This is a dictatorship that allows no political parties, free elections, independent media or trade unions and deprives women and gays of their most basic rights.
The invitation to King Abdullah reflects the double standards of the British Government which talks about promoting human rights, but allows the economic interests of oil multinationals and the defence industry to dictate our foreign policy.
The full text of EDM 2102: State Visit of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia reads as follows:
“That this House notes with concern the state visit of King Abdullah bin Abdul Azaz al Saud of Saudi Arabia to the United Kingdom on 30th October 2007; believes that Saudi Arabia is one of the most repressive societies on earth, with no political parties, free elections, independent media or trade unions; views with alarm the systematic human rights abuses that exist within the Kingdom, such as the lack of basic rights for women, the practice of public beheadings and the repression of homosexuals; condemns the recent sale of 72 Eurofighters to such a barbaric regime; and calls upon the British Government to base its foreign policy towards Saudi Arabia on democracy and human rights rather than on narrow economic interests.”
I tabled the motion because like many others I am angry that the Government will be paying the Saudi king a warm welcome while thousands of incarcerated Saudis face the most brutal forms of torture and the threat of public execution.
This is a dictatorship that allows no political parties, free elections, independent media or trade unions and deprives women and gays of their most basic rights.
The invitation to King Abdullah reflects the double standards of the British Government which talks about promoting human rights, but allows the economic interests of oil multinationals and the defence industry to dictate our foreign policy.
The full text of EDM 2102: State Visit of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia reads as follows:
“That this House notes with concern the state visit of King Abdullah bin Abdul Azaz al Saud of Saudi Arabia to the United Kingdom on 30th October 2007; believes that Saudi Arabia is one of the most repressive societies on earth, with no political parties, free elections, independent media or trade unions; views with alarm the systematic human rights abuses that exist within the Kingdom, such as the lack of basic rights for women, the practice of public beheadings and the repression of homosexuals; condemns the recent sale of 72 Eurofighters to such a barbaric regime; and calls upon the British Government to base its foreign policy towards Saudi Arabia on democracy and human rights rather than on narrow economic interests.”
posted by John at 6:55 PM
9 Comments:
In the interests of clarity about who got funding, indirect or direct, from Arab despots - who funded or subsidised Labour Herald and how did such a low circulation paper manage a five colour process print run?
Just asking, this is an issue of public interest I think.
What exactly is EDM? Are they voted on and do they do anything else then showing what an MP belives?
What is the Labour Herald? And what does it have to do with the visit of the King of Saudi Arabia?
Saudi's attitude towards gays and women and drinkers and opposition is completely like your attitude about happening of mental illness to somebody here. you do not entertain him of any civil and human rights. you read recent debates of your parliament about mental health bill then translate it into arabic it becomes their reasoning as powerful that you cannot say one word in protest. they have reasoning legislators as defending arguments like yours. they have chafieh on the head instead your wig. everything is like yours. except that their government has to bribe your government to keep your words inside your circles only. your protest means buying more weaponery spending less on real development of country employing low qualified britons instead of more qualified arabs.
why you do not look under your nose. I had a humble teaching job here. I developed a mild fit in school like the fit that your dr samuel johnson and mozart had. instead of calling me and asking me to leave they informed secretely the mental health people of the university. you go and search what they have done to me. I am four years under house arrest and unified harassment without appeal or lawyer. go and ask head of my school, called hibt in the university of heartfordshire, in 2003 who was a socialist somehow and his wife and his staff, what they have done to me and to my family. ask if the trade union that i paid for years did anything. then go to king abdullah 5000 miles far from here.
In the 1997 edition of Parliamentary Profiles (by Andrew Roth and Byron Criddle and available at extortionate cost in the Parliamentary Bookshop) it says that John "became editor of the Trotskyist Labour Herald, previously alleged part-financed by the Libyans in 1985". Is this what you are referring to??
I'm sure that John has countered this allegation in the past and would be able to do so on this website if required. Otherwise I don't think he would have been able to sustain the high level of support he clearly has as today's "leader of the left".
John is an MP and can use Freedom of Information Act to inquire from that place if such a claim made above is true. We have a democracy here.
Ken Livingstone and Ted Knight have both won money in court before from people alleging that Labour Herald was funded by Libyan money.
No particular need to go over it again, I think, unless any posters with more money than sense want to donate to John's campaign fund for the next election.
"It beggars belief that US health privateers straight out of Michael Moore's Sicko are being lined up to run core NHS services"...
http://tinyurl.com/29j6sh
"Former UN Official: US blocked certification that Iraq had no WMDs in 1990s"...
http://tinyurl.com/2utzhh
"British government accessing telephone records"...
http://tinyurl.com/3xds9s
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