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March 6, 2014 Mr. Barack Obama, President of the United States of America 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear President Obama; The Institute for Gulf Affairs is writing to urge you to take action regarding the Saudi Monarchys abhorrent violation of human rights by acknowledging and publicly addressing these violations during your visit to the Kingdom this month. Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy ruled by King Abdullah and his extended family who commit numerous human rights violations. The people of Saudi Arabia are not allowed to freely express themselves as citizens or criticize the government at the risk of arrest, torture and murder. There is independent media in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Kingdom also bans the formation of any independent human rights organizations except groups run by the government. Outlined below are six key areas in which the Saudi monarchy has not upheld human rights. Democracy The Saudi Monarchy has opposed democracy both at home and abroad. Political parties and public protests are banned in Saudi Arabia, and the newly enforced anti-terrorism law criminalizes the exercise of basic human rights such as freedom of expression, assembly, and association. The Kingdom has also taken part in undermining democracy in other Middle East countries as well. In 2005 and again in 2011, the ruling family implemented local municipal elections for powerless councils with both women and men under the age of 21 banned from participating. In order to limit the impact of these local elections, only half of the candidates were able to run, with the rest appointed by the ruling family. In 2011 Saudi Arabia arrested Dr. Ahmed AlGhamdi the founding members of Saudi Arabias first political party Islamic Umma, a party that promotes improving human rights and expanding the democratic process. Organized opposition parties for the Kingdom can only exist outside of the country. In 2011, Saudi Arabia invaded Bahrain as part of a larger Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) operation to support the Bahraini monarchy against protesters. The scale of the Saudi invasion of Bahrain is greater than the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Saudi invading forces took part in killing and arresting protesters as well as the destruction of over 60 mosques. Saudi Arabia sent massive amounts of financial aid and troops to support the Bahraini King. More recently, during last summers coup against the Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, Saudi Arabia went against the tide of democracy and supported forces that aimed to remove the democratically elected government from power. Saudi Monarchy expressed its opposition to the
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rise of a constitutional national unity government in Tunisia by boycotting the much-celebrated new Tunisian Constitution inaugurated last month and lauded by many countries, including the U.S. Afro-Arabian Discrimination The Saudi Monarchy is racist. They feel superior to other nationalities and in particular to African blacks. Saudi discrimination against Saudi blacks runs across all areas of public life - blacks are banned from senior government positions such as diplomats, judges and ministers. The Saudi king, Abdullah himself has delivered racist diatribes calling black individuals slaves. This behavior contradicts Islam, which teaches absolute equality between races and ethnicities. There is ongoing racial discrimination where oppressive racist policies have targeted Afro-Arabs who constitute 10 percent of the Kingdoms population. These policies prohibit Afro-Arabs from occupying many official government positions such as diplomats, ministers, judges, mayors, head of government departments and even school principals. Those who are involved in this should be sanctioned by your administration. Women Rights/Gender inequality Gender inequality and segregation are enshrined in law in Saudi Arabia. Women are seen as property of their male guardians, culturally inferior, and fragile. Women are not allowed to travel, work, and drive or make any decisions in their lives without permission or consent of a male guardian. This is reflected in every Saudi government application. Last month, Aminah Bawazir, 22, a King Saud a university female student died of a heart attack on Feb.6th in front of her classmates because the paramedics were banned from entering the female-only building, 500 yards from a hospital. Saudi Monarchy law bans the transportation of females in ambulances without the presence of their male guardian(s). Religious edicts are often interpreted to make issues like women driving illegal. The Saudi monarchy refuses to issue drivers licenses to women, or allow them to drive with forging driving licenses. The Saudi Minister of the Interior, Mohamed Bin Naif is the leading oppressor of women, who personally threatened women rights activists with prison and other punishments if they insisted on driving. A womens driving campaign was held on October 26, 2013 but due to threats from the Ministry of Interior a much smaller group of women took part in protesting the Monarchys ban. A media campaign was also launched by the monarchy to attack women rights activists and their supporters. The countrys leading women rights activist Miss. Wajeha al-Huwaider has been sentenced to 10 months in prison on trumped-up charges of encouraging a Canadian women to disobey her husband. The Saudi Monarchy bans girls and all females from physical education in public schools and universities. This violates womens right to good health, right to play and right to an equal opportunity in the Kingdoms education system. The result of the Saudi Monarchy ban on female sports is devastating on women's health. This has contributed to the increase of obesity and diabetes among women in the Kingdom because there are no facilities or gyms that allow women to participate. Over 10,000 women die every year as direct result of banning them from sports and organized physical exercise. Only after the launch of our campaign No Women No Play to ban the Saudi Monarchy from the Olympics, the Monarchy allowed two female athletes to compete in the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

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King Abdullah and His Four Daughters Women who challenge their male guardians can experience severe punishment by Saudi authorities. Four daughters of King Abdullah, Sahar, Jawaher, Maha, and Halla, all in their late thirties and early forties have been held against their will since September 2001 by their father, King Abdullah and his two sons Mitab and Abdulaziz, Commander of the National Guard and deputy foreign minister consecutively. A unit of the Saudi National Guard - for which your administration has authorized training and the sale of weapons - has been holding the four women captive inside a costal palace in Jeddah since 2001. This should change as the Saudi National Guard is clearly committing human rights violation. The sisters have been prevented from leaving the palace and have not been allowed to marry or leave the country to reunite with their mother AlAnood AlFayez in London. Their imprisonment is meant as a punishment for their mother who chose to leave the King and live outside his control. The detention and physiological torture of these sisters, the daughters of the King, demonstrates the oppressive nature of the Saudi King Abdullah and confirms beyond the shadow of doubt the abuse of his family, which makes him unworthy of meeting with any international leader. We have given your Ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe the details of this case on December 4, 2014, in writing and in person during the Human Rights First annual summit in Washington. Child Marriage The Saudi Monarchy allows the practice of pedophilia by promoting and facilitating child marriage. Thousands of child marriages occur annually with the approval of the Saudi Monarchy as there is no minimum age of marriage in Saudi Arabia. Members of the Saudi Monarchy have been personally involved in this practice. Your administration has never publically addressed this criminal practice. Female Gentiles Mutilation remains legal and is practiced. Political Prisoners Saudi Arabia has a long history of imprisoning those oppose the monarchy. The Kingdom recently passed a new counter-terrorism law which allows the monarchy to label anyone who offends its reputation, requests reforms, exposes government corruption, engages in dissent or calls for regime change, as a terrorist. Citizens taking part in political protests have been killed by monarchy snipers. Others have been jailed and sentenced to 15 years, such as the case of poet Adel Al-Lubad from Awamya. Those who are jailed, even prior to the adoption of the counter-terrorism law, are often denied access to their families or legal counsel. Many have been imprisoned for reasons inconceivable in other countries. In the summer of 2013, seven Saudi citizens were sentenced to five to ten years for expressing themselves on Facebook and other social media sites. One prominent political prisoner, Mikhlif al-Shammari, was arrested in 2010 on the charge of "annoying others:. He remained in prison until 2012 when he was released on bail. Al Shamari then faced more charges and more jail time when the Saudi government charged him with sowing public discord. He was sentenced to five more years in prison and a ten-year travel ban. Last year, six of the founding members of the Association of Civil and Political Rights (ACPRA) where arrested. The U.S. educated Dr. Mohamed AlQahtani, Dr Abdullah AlHemd, Sheikh Suliman
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AlRashoody, Mr. Fawzan Alharbi, Dr. Abdulkarim AlKhuder, Omar AlSaeed, and Mohamed ABbijadi have been sentenced up to 15 years for peacefully calling for human and civil rights in the country. Once again, your administration said nothing publicly. This is not a militant group trying to destabilize the region. This is a civil rights group that was advocating for greater democracy, direct elections of parliament and government, independence of the judiciary, separation of executive, legislative, and judicial powers, promotion of human rights, including free speech, the right to peacefully protest, and promotion of women and civil society. The Saudi monarchy views them as the greatest risk to its absolute monopoly on power. Khaled al-Johani is another political prisoner who was arrested in the Spring of 2011 after speaking to BBC television crew. Al-Johani noted the need for radical political change, a smaller police presence, the guarantee of basic civil liberties and freedom of expression. He was arrested immediately following the interview and has become a symbol of the average Saudi citizen. Mohammed Saleh Al-Bajady, one of the founders of ACPRA the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association, was arrested and sentenced to four years, followed by a five year travel ban. He has been previously arrested and detained incommunicado for 10 months, most of which was spent in solitary confinement. His continued imprisonment is thought to be because of his reporting of human rights violations in detention centers in Saudi Arabia and his support of families in their attempt to free relatives who are political prisoners. The United Nations and other NGOs are unable to gain even limited access to Saudi Arabias prisons. Saudi Arabia is not a signatory to any major UN treaties such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights or the Convention against Torture. In April 2013, the Saudi Monarchy executed seven young men from the Aseer region over robbery. They were all executed after a summary trial because several of the gold stores they robbed belonged to members of the Saudi Monarchy. Weeks later, the monarchy executed and publically displayed the bodies of five Yemeni nationals at the gates of the University of Jazan, in a similar fashion to AlQaeda. Death Squads The Saudi monarchy operates death squads that have murdered nearly two dozen peaceful protesters, including children, in the oil-rich region of Qatif. The death squads operate under the direct orders and authority of the Saudi Minister of Interior Mohamed Bin Naif. In a video leaked last month by members of the death squads, members can be heard confirming that their orders come directly from the Minister of the Interior himself. On the Saudi Ministry of the Interior website, command of the Special Forces is directly under the Minister of the Interior, who is the only person authorized to order attacks. Thus he is legally responsible for the acts that the Special Forces carry out. Saudi death squads have so far killed 21 protest organizers, including three children in Awamya in separate attacks. In an un-provoked attack, Saudi death squads killed Abdullah AlAwjami, 16, in July 2012 while he was walking home. He was left to bleed to death while soldiers kicked him and took photos of his body with their mobile phones. The death squads also killed high schools students Mohamed Habib AlManasef, and Hasan Zaheri, both 17, in September, 2012.

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Others killed include a photo journalist Husain AlFaraj who was shot eleven times while waving his white undershirt to show he is unarmed. He documented Saudi monarchy forces abuses and attacks on homes and activists. Again, your administration said nothing about these crimes. The Saudi death squads, acting on orders from General Bader Musa AlHawyfer, the commander of Saudi Death Squads in the Eastern Province, opened heavy fire on a German Embassy car in January 13, 2014, outside the city of Awamya. The car was destroyed but the two diplomats escaped unharmed with the help of the locals. It is important to address, stop, and reverse any American official or private support, of any kind, to any Saudi official or agency who are involved in operation of the Minister of the interior death squads, known as the Hawks of Naif. The U.S. laws mandates that such agencies be sanctioned, banned from the United States and considered dangerous to peace and justice. In addition the Saudi Monarchy is listing 15 Shia protesters and activists on death trials where they are facing public beheading and crucifixion. Their crime is protesting against the Saudi Monarchy and burning the photos of the Saudi king and his family members. These trials and sentences are arranged by Mohamed Bin Naif. One of those who are at risk of public execution and crucifixion is Sheikh Nimer AlNimer. Mr. President; I wanted to address with you the case of Mr. Ali Asseri, a gay Saudi diplomat who sought asylum in the United States in 2010 and your administration refused to grant him asylum. Instead, your administration is trying to deport him to Saudi Arabia where he faces a possible execution or decades behind bars. Mr. Asseri's case is a test of your public commitment to the rights of gays in the United States and around the world. Saudi Human Rights Criminals As the leader of the United States of America, it is your legal and moral responsibility to implement the U.S. laws by sanctioning human rights criminals of any nation through visa bans and assets seizures just as the case with Russian and Ukrainian officials. Here is a list of Saudi officials who committed human rights crimes: 1- Mohamed Bin Naif Bin AbdulAziz AlSaud, the Minister of the Interior and known human rights criminal responsible for running the main apparatus of abuse, torture, beadings, amputations, child marriage, killing protesters, leading death squads, destroying hundreds of homes of poor people and other human rights abuses. Bin Naif is also involved in terrorism by sending children like Muath AlHamely, 16, Mohamed AlTalq, 18, among others to Syria to join AlQaeda. Both were arrested in 2012 for protesting the jailing of their relatives in Buraydah. They were later given passports by the Private Office of Saudi Minister of the Interior Mohamed Bin Naif and told to travel to Syria. AlTalq was killed by Syrian army in December 2012. 2- Khalid AlFaisal Abdul Aziz AlSaud, the Minister of Education who bans three millions girls from receiving physical education, a basic human rights. He is also responsible for the Saudi schoolbooks that advocate violence, hatred of non-Muslims such as Jews, Christians and other religions. In fact,

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these textbooks clearly and openly call for the annihilation of all Jews around the world. More details are in the textbooks section. 3- Mohamed Al-Issa, the minister of justice and head of the Supreme Court, for his role in public executions and beadings, amputations, banning blacks from the judicial positions, facilitating child marriages. 4- General Bader Musa AlHawyfer, the commander of Saudi Death Squads in the Eastern Province for involvement in the killing of 21 protesters, including children and inuring others since 2011. He also issued orders to shoot at German diplomats. 5- Major General Khalid Qarar AlHarbi, the commander of the Saud Death Squads known as Emergency Forces for involvement in killing 21 peaceful protesters, including children and inuring others since 2011. School Textbooks Saudi Arabias school textbooks, despite claims of their improvement, continue to teach hatred against Christians and Jews. These books spread hatred and racism amongst millions of Saudi youth and make young Saudis more prone to joining militant groups and committing terrorism. This is made evident by the disproportionate representation of Saudis among Al-Qaeda fighters in Iraq and Syria. In fact, AlQaeda in Syria currently uses Saudi government textbooks in Riqa province. A ninth grade textbook, for example, contains the excerpt that concludes that Muslims must kill every Jew in the world, " The hour [of judgment] will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them [It will not come] until the Jew hides {sic} behind rocks and trees. ...There is a Jew behind me. Come and Kill him." This lesson was not changed since we first exposed it in 2003. Other lessons endorse slavery, child marriage, violence and hatred against all non-Muslims and many Muslims who do not agree with the Saudi version of Islam, including the majority of Sunni Muslims. Terrorism In the country where unemployment is over 30% among males, and hatred is taught in the school system, many are falling into the ranks of militant extremism. Members of the Saudi monarchy and government agencies have continued to fund Saudi and foreign militants in an attempt to destabilize regimes they consider unfriendly and support their own particular branch of Islam. Saudi Arabias actions are detrimental to the United States and to stability in the Middle East region as a whole. Thousands of Saudi nationals are finding their way to conflict zones in Syria, Iraq and, Pakistan because the Saudi Monarchy let them. Thats why Saudi Nationals make up the largest number of terrorists operating outside their countries. They constitute the largest number of foreign terrorist than any other nation. That is true in Syria and Iraq. In a 2009 cable sent to embassies around the world former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide." This is as true today as it has been since the 1980s. Currently the Saudi Ministry of the Interior, led by Mohamed Bin Naif, have been sending hundreds of Saudi nationals to Syria and Iraq to join AlQaeda branch, ISIS, which has been classified by your administration as a terrorist organizations. Any state that is funding and aiding a terrorist organization should
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be classified as a State Sponsor of Terror, and listed accordingly by the State Department. This also applies to the Saudi Minister of the interior who should be sanctioned for terrorism and human rights crimes. Saudi Arabia is the largest donor to terrorist groups in the Middle East. The Saudi Monarchy has been largely funding ISIS (Islamic state of Iraq and Syria) and other similar groups. These groups have undermined the Syrian peoples uprising and their march for freedom to build a democratic regime in place of the current Syrian dictatorship. The Saudi monarchy fears the rise of a government of the people, by the people, for the people anywhere in the Middle East. The monarchy fears elections, freedoms, tolerance, and openness. The Pakistani militant group that carried out the Mumbai bombings in 2008, Lashkar-e-Taiba, has secured money in Saudi Arabia through World Association of Muslim Youth (WAMY), which ran a Kashmir Committee to fund such actions since the 1980s. The groups funded by Saudi Arabia are committing crimes that are taking the lives of thousands including Americans, and directly undermining U.S. efforts in the region. Military and Security Sales and Cooperation According to the Arms Transfer Eligibility Criteria set forth by the Foreign Assistance Act, Section 502B, the United States is illegally providing weapons and training to Saudi security forces. Section 502B states: Except under circumstances specified in this section, no security assistance may be provided to any country the government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights. Security assistance may not be provided to the police, domestic intelligence, or similar law enforcement forces of a country, and licenses may not be issued under the Export Administration Act of 1979 for the export of crime control and detection instruments and equipment to a country, the government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights unless the President certifies in writing to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the chairman of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate (when licenses are to be issued pursuant to the Export Administration Act of 1979), that extraordinary circumstances exist warranting provision of such assistance and issuance of such licenses. This section defines unacceptable human rights violations and the way in which the United States should respond with regard to weapons and training. However, billions of dollars in arms sales and military training flow between the countries each year. Mr. President, we ask you to implement U.S. law on arms and security sales and training to the Saudi Monarchy. This includes barring the training and sales of any kind to the Saudi Mabahith, one the worst violators of human rights. No one can argue that Saudi Arabia does not violate any of the internationally recognized human rights mentioned above. The United States of America portrays itself as a forerunner of human rights and fundamental freedom of mankind. Maintaining such close ties with a government that does not support or promote human rights and ignoring their behavior screams hypocrisy. It is important for the United States to take a
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stand in the case of human rights and publically address the many issues happening within the country of such a close ally. Mr. President, please use your influence and the influence of your office to help improve living conditions in Saudi Arabia for its women and minority populations. This is an opportunity to stand on the right side of history by standing up for an oppressed people. If you can you stand up to the Russian power over Ukraine, your certainly can express your support for the rights and aspiration of the people living under the Saudi monarchy of darkness. *** Based in Washington, D.C., the Gulf Institute is an independent, nonpartisan organization that disseminates solid information about the Gulf region and produces thoughtful analyses of Gulf politics and international relations. The Institute is at the center of a global network of reliable individuals, some of whom, due to the closed nature of the political systems of the region, including Saudi Arabia, have no other outlet for their views. Sincerely, Ali Al-Ahmed, Director

Andrew Bond, Assistant Director Chidinma Zik-Ikeorha, Human Rights Campaign Coordinator

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