An organization of exiled Saudi dissidents in countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States announced the release of an opposition party, King Salman’s first political resistance.
Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy that tolerates no political opposition, the formation of the National Assembly Party on the anniversary of the founding of the kingdom took position amid a developing state crackdown against dissent and freedom of expression.
The previous ones in the political organization in the Gulf State in 2007 and 2011 were suppressed and their members arrested.
“Here we announce the creation of the National Assembly Party, which aims to identify democracy as a form of government in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the organization said on a Wednesday.
This progression is going to seriously undermine the authority of the Arab world’s top tough ruling family, but this poses a new challenge for Saudi leaders as they grapple with low crude oil costs and prepare to host a G20 summit in November in the middle. of the coronavirus pandemic.
The party is led by prominent London-based human rights activist Yahya Assiri, and its members have educational resources such as Madawi al-Rasheed, researcher Saeed bin Nasser al-Ghamdi, American Abdullah Alaoudh and Canada’s Omar Abdulaziz, resources close to the group. told the AFP news agency.
“We are pronouncing the liberation of this party at a critical moment in an attempt to save our country. . . to identify a long democratic term and meet the aspirations of our people,” Assiri, the party’s general secretary, told AFP.
Assiri, an exoficial of the Royal Saudi Air Force, founded the London-based human rights organization ALQST, which has documented what he calls widespread state abuse, adding arrests of activists and members of the royal family.
The announcement comes at a time when “the scope of the policy has been blocked in all directions,” according to the party’s statement.
“The government is constantly practicing violence and repression, with an increasing number of political arrests and assassinations, competitive policies opposed to regional states, enforced disappearances and others forced to flee the country,” he added.
Rasheed, the party’s spokeswoman, said its founders “did not have a non-public animosity with the ruling family. “
But the lack of an independent judiciary, strict government control with the local media, and the “musalization of public opinion” were other points that led to the formation of the group, according to the party’s communiqué.
Saudi Arabia has long been the subject of foreign complaints about its human rights record, which has intensified since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was appointed heir to the Saudi throne in June 2017.
In particular, the October 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul prompted an unprecedented foreign review of the kingdom’s human rights record.
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