As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden promised that under his leadership the US would “never again check its principles at the door just to buy oil or sell weapons.” But at the first sign of a fuel price crunch, that is precisely what he’s doing: this Friday he is due to arrive in Saudi Arabia.
Over half of the 81 victims of the recent mass execution were punished for attending pro-democracy protests.
More people whose only “crime” is to question the status quo are at risk, including scholar Hassan al-Maliki who faces a death sentence for the content of his library.
Mustafa al-Darwish was executed for taking part in protests while still a minor. Another child defendant, Abdullah al-Howaiti, has been sentenced to death using a ‘confession’ he was tortured into signing when he was just 14 years old for a crime he couldn’t have committed.
Reprieve’s Director Maya Foa writes for the Financial Times about why President Biden cannot show his revulsion for Vladimir Putin’s atrocities by rewarding those of Mohammed bin Salman and that there are better and more environmentally sustainable ways to deal with the energy crisis than empowering such regimes. Read the full article in the Financial Times.