The Saudis at the UN Human Rights Council

by Giulio Meotti • December 23, 2016 at 5:00 am

While the medieval Saudi system of justice was flogging the gentle blogger Raif Badawi 50 out of the stipulated 1000 lashes, a delegation of UN bureaucrats landed in Jeddah to promote an international conference on religious freedom.
The Saudis use these international seats to advance their oppressive agenda, and to press the Western democracies to punish criticism of Islam.
Through the shameful trial of Geert Wilders, Dutch authorities sent a message of surrender to the Saudis and other rogue Islamic regimes that punish dissent.
Did the Dutch prosecute Wilders on behalf of the Saudis, who threatened to impose sanctions on the Netherlands?
The UN and the Western democracies are putting the defense of human rights and freedom in the hands of one the world's worst violators of religious and intellectual freedom.
Sharia courts are already fully operating in the Netherlands. They know something about "human rights": stoning, flogging and chopping off heads.
Who will rescue our right to speak?

Raif Badawi and his children, before he was jailed.

"My husband has been languishing in a Saudi prison since June 17th, 2012. Our children live with me in the city of Sherbrooke, Québec in Canada. They have not seen their father for five years now... On January 9, 2015, Raif received the first 50 lashes... Will members of the United Nations Human Rights Council join the European Parliament and ask for Raif's release?"

Unfortunately, the UN members did not respond to this appeal by Ensaf Haidar, the fearless wife of the most famous blogger of the Arab world, the gentle Raif Badawi, imprisoned and flogged by the Saudis for his secular ideas. A few days after Ensaf's appeal, the United Nations welcomed Badawi's executioners, the Saudis, at the UN Human Rights Council. The Saudi representative, Abdulaziz Alwasil, will be decisive on three major issues at the UN Palace of Nations in Geneva: women, religious freedom and the system of justice.