European Parliament: Question raised about Ahmadiyya persecution in Saudi Arabia

Ahmadiyya Times

The attitude of the Saudi Arabian Government to human rights is well known, although the way the European Union treats it as an ally is at odds with its systematic violation of these rights. Recently, Sultan Hamid Marzouk Al‐Anzi and Faleh Sudi Awad Al‐Anzi, citizens born in Saudi Arabia whose only crime was to be members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, were arrested. They were held and charged with the crime of apostasy, since religious conversion is considered to be a crime in Saudi Arabia. Against this background, the international community continues to maintain its usual criminal silence, since Saudi Arabia is adopting the same double standards in the observance of human rights as the European Union. The Ahmadiyya community is a religious movement within Islam that is committed to peaceful expansion and calls for dialogue instead of holy war. The movement is persecuted in many Islamic countries where the extremist and fundamentalist Islamic movements have become strong, in many cases thanks to support provided by Saudi Arabia. While the Western powers bomb and occupy countries in the Middle East on the pretext of terrorism, Saudi Arabia, the main stronghold of the most radical Islamic fundamentalist and terrorist movements, is seen as an ally. Is the Vice-President/High Representative aware of the abovementioned arrests, which infringe respect for human rights? Does she intend to publicly condemn the Saudi Arabian Government for religious arrests of this kind? Does she intend to demand that Saudi Arabia abolish all provisions in its legislation that are in conflict with respect for human rights in the sphere of religious freedom? Does she intend to suspend relations within the Gulf Cooperation Council until Saudi Arabia undertakes to respect human rights?