A regrettable decision

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Monday decided to expel the Canadian Ambassador within 24 hours

The decision on Monday by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to expel within 24 hours the Canadian Ambassador may be one that it lives to regret. Expulsions at such short notice are extremely rare and usually follow grave instances of espionage or the like, but this was the KSA response to some robust criticism of its human rights record and specifically the call by Ottawa for the release of recently jailed activists, including some prominent women. One of those detained is Samar Badawi who was presented with the International Women of Courage Award in 2012 by the then US Secretary of State and the First Lady.

The KSA is treating the protests by the Canadians as a violation of its sovereignty, saying that the Canadian position is an ‘overt and blatant interference in the internal affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.’ All trade and investment transactions are also halted. The KSA ambassador to Ottawa has been recalled and all in all this is one of the larger diplomatic upsets in the region of recent years.

The Canadian position is that it is taking a principled stand and has the same right as any other country to criticise the actions of any other country. Criticism is not something that the KSA has ever taken lightly. The point here is that no state is above criticism, no matter how virtuous, and criticism is not in any respect a violation of sovereignty. The KSA does not have the right to constrain every other nation on earth in terms of what they do or do not say about it. If the Canadians wish to berate the KSA for what it perceives as human rights violations then so be it. They are not alone in their position and the KSA is going to have to learn to live in the hurly-burly of the modern world. The KSA government might also like to consider the position of the tens of thousands of its students currently in Canada getting educated. We watch with interest.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th, 2018.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.