Scathing attack on Saudi Arabia

By Gulamhusein A. Abba

“Stop pouring petrol on these fires on the other side of the world”

“Violence has a way of coming home”

Senator Scott Ludlam

Scott Ludlam, co deputy leader of the Australian Greens in the Senate, opposing the  Australian government sponsored arms deal to Saudi Arabia , in a strong speech exposed the hypocrisy of Western governments who claim to be upholders of the rule of law, of justice and freedom and human rights.

He proposed a unilateral arms embargo on Saudi Arabia and launched a scathing attack on the actions of Saudi Arabia in Yemen. He said “there is a word for this kind of horrific violence aginst nonmilitary targets and that word is “terrorism”

Referring to the famine being faced by the Yemenis, he said, “This is an engineered famine. It is an engineered epidemic. There is a word for this too. That word is “genocide”.

Quoting diplomatic cables published by the WikiLeaks organization, he said the cables revealed the following: Donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Saudi terrorist groups worldwide. He went on to reveal that these were US Department cables

Citing the “eye for an eye” approach followed by Saudi Arabia government, he revealed that in 2003 and Indian guest worker was punished for his role in a brawl in which a Saudi citizen was wounded. He was punished by having his right eye gouged out.

Blogger  Raif Badwi

Scott said, “this is a barbaric place. Do you know who stood up in Saudi Arabia for human rights and democracy, unlike the United States government or indeed our own? A blogger called Raif Badawi. It is just on five years since he was arrested and sentenced to thousands of lashes and 10 years in prison. He is still in prison – a blogger…”

Lashing of Raif Badawi

Salman Rushdie on why we must read Raif Badawi

A terrific speech. It took a lot of courage to make it and I take my hats off to Scott Ludlam.

Please see the video of the full speech by Mr. Scott at

https://www.facebook.com/SenatorLudlam/videos/10155549453484470/

It may come as a surprise that this condemnation of the Sunni government of Saudi Arabia is being praised by me, a Sunni. In fact, it is no surprise. Firstly because a wrong is a wrong and it must be condemned, no matter who the wrong doer is, and he who has the courage to condemn it deserves to be praised. Secondly, the majority of Sunnis, myself included, do not accept that Saudi Arabia represents correctly the concept of Islam held by Sunni Muslims today

PS. Two of the hypocrites: