MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The European Union has abandoned its plans to issue a public statement in support of Canada in its diplomatic row with Saudi Arabia over the lack of agreement among all member countries and confined itself to raising human rights concerns in private at a meeting in Riyadh, the BuzzFeed News outlet reported, citing sources.
A delegation of EU ambassadors handed a formal diplomatic note to Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir at a meeting on Friday, the BuzzFeed reported on Monday. The move reportedly followed the bloc’s failure to endorse a joint public statement on the issue.
An unnamed senior EU official, cited by the outlet, characterized the absence of a public statement as “sad,” pointing to the need to replace the bloc’s unanimity decision rule with a qualified majority system.
The demarche in question reportedly concerned the Middle Eastern country’s human rights record. It also called for EU–Saudi closer cooperation and continuation of the reforms in the kingdom. The Saudi minister, in turn, said that Riyadh had evidence that some of the detainees had connections with foreign entities, seeking foreign funds and passing them information, the media outlet’s source said.
Jubeir reportedly defended the country’s right to move forward at its own pace and within the framework of its own system. He also added that all the Gulf countries except Qatar, the members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League, Russia, and several Asian nations supported Riyadh in the row.
Raif Badawi, the creator of the Free Saudi Liberals website, was arrested in 2012 following his criticism of Saudi clerics and religious police, as well as over allegations of insulting Islam. In 2014, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. His wife and children later fled Saudi Arabia for Canada and received Canadian citizenship on July 1.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
