Saudis Are Not Fit to Dictate Policy on Yemen

It’s been a while since a number of nations, human rights groups, anti-war activists and the Red Cross have been calling for a 24-hour ceasefire in Yemen, but to no avail.

Top political figures in Ansarullah have also expressed the resistance movement’s openness toward peace talks. But negotiations are unlikely. The Saudi regime, a cash machine for terrorists, has ruled out any end to its airstrikes unless former president Hadi is restored to power.

Lest we forget this is the same regime that has no national elections, no parties and no parliament, and still insists on restoration of democracy in Yemen. Saudi Arabia is rated as “not free” and has been given the lowest possible score in a January 2015 report by Freedom House, a nongovernmental organization that tracks human rights.

In January, Human Rights Watch published a report stating that, “Saudi Arabia imprisons activists on broad, catch-all charges designed to criminalize peaceful dissent, such as breaking allegiance with the un-elected ruler or setting up an independent organization. In March, the Islamic Human Rights Commission reported there are some 30,000 political prisoners in Saudi Arabia, where they are publicly flogged, amputated and beheaded.

Also according to Amnesty International, the rise in public beheadings and the practice of crucifixion, which refers to the court-ordered public display of the body after execution, along with the separated head if beheaded, is disturbing and condemnable. There were at least 79 such executions in 2014.

Worse yet, is that Saudi Arabia – and its partners – have been financially and militarily supporting terrorism and the evolving Sunni insurgency against Shias for years. They have intentionally bankrolled groups whose mission it is to wipe out the Shia communities and ethnic groups in the Middle East. These un-elected regimes first started with al-Qaeda and then bankrolled what became ISIL.

So the Saudis are not in a position to dictate policy or be the teacher of democracy in Yemen. They don’t support the heart of evolving humanity and they are not a leader worthy of being followed. They seek authority so that they may impose their policy without limitation. Strange enough, they now want the people of Yemen to choose their dictator!

Little wonder the people of Yemen and the opposition have decided to fight back against the world’s worst human rights violators. As citizens of their new democracy, they are the rulers and the ruled, the lawgivers and the law-abiding. They want to enjoy the highest civil, economic and social rights in a progressive community and they won’t support the return of a military dictator that cannot provide that. They certainly have no intention to renounce their feeling of choice either.

Within this context, the international community has to reject the glorification of this immoral violence before it engulfs the entire region and before many more civilians die. The world must force the Saudis to stop their criminal aggression and accept an immediate ceasefire in battle-torn Yemen.