From CDHR

Saudi Prince’s advice to Hamas
“He (Prince Turki Al-Faisal) also had some advice for Hamas: Follow the examples of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., who used civil disobedience to achieve their objectives. “You are choosing the wrong weapons,” he said. “How can you challenge the Israeli might with a few rockets and suicide bombs? Challenge them on humanitarian grounds, make them out to be the bullies that they are. That’s how you win.”” Read More…

Time For a Change Before Change Forces Itself
The following article explains how unstable the Saudi rulers are. This is partially the reason the notorious Saudi Interior Minister Prince Naif was appointed deputy to the King. Prince Naif is known for his anti-minority, anti-Women, anti-reformers and anti-non-Muslim contemptuous and ruthless polices. Read More…

Arab Summits: Unity Among Equals
It is hard to understand why Arab regimes continue to meet or talk about Arab unity when they and their voiceless population know in advance that the result of their meetings is always the same: insulting each other and blaming the US, colonial powers, and especially Israel for all Arab failures at home. Read More…

Facing an Uncertain Future
In less than a month, the disenfranchised population of Saudi Arabia went from high hopes for political and social opening to a state of uncertainty and confusion, or as one person described it, a collective state of depression. This is due to King Abdullah’s recent contradictory actions. Read More…

King Abdullah’s Recent Removal of Some Officials
Some hopeful Saudis and many Western commentators and beneficiaries have been recycling the same theme, “King Abdullah is clearing the way for reforming his lagging kingdom.” While the King has taken some steps to relieve his captive population of the yoke of political, religious and social oppression and stagnation, his recent moves are designed to consolidate power under his branch of the royal family’s control and to ensure the incontestability of the House of Saud as the legitimate rulers of Saudi Arabia. Read More…

Pregnant gang-rape victim sentenced to one year and 100 lashes
Institutions that validate such cruelty are not only dangerous to their people and neighbors, but to the basic civil norms of the international community. There must be universal binding measures to protect defenseless victims from incurring further punishment because of their physical makeup, gender. Read More…

Support Democratic Reformers
President-elect, Barack Obama, understands, first hand, that free people are free to determine their destiny without fear of governments, big businesses or religious extremist’s retributions. He ran against about twenty educated, patriotic and capable men and women and won the presidency of the most powerful nation on earth. Read More…

Not Enough to Condemn
The Organization of Islamic Conference’s (OIC) condemnation of the vicious attack on Mumbai, India, by Muslim extremists is meaningless. From all indications, the murderous attackers are trained in countries represented in the OIC and communities that receive financial support from some of the Organization’s members. Read More…

Instability in Process
The Saudi regime has constantly reminded its captive citizens of how lucky they are to be living in a secure, stable and peaceful environment where Islam was born and where its shrines reside. Some officials continue to praise the Saudi regime, even though the country has never been more unstable than at the present. This instability is due to many internal and external factors, such as the public’s unmet aspirations, expectations, high unemployment among the youth, women’s demands for their rights, and the empowerment of religious extremists by the royal family. Read More…

Saudi-Taliban Connections
The Saudi Foreign Minister, Saud Al-Faisal, confirmed that his government hosted a meeting between the Afghani government and the Taliban forces recently. This disclosure raises intriguing if not serious questions. Has the Saudi government maintained friendly relations with the Taliban after the US dealt it a mortifying defeat (in October 2001) for allowing Al-Qaeda to reside, train and plan its deadly 9/11 attack? Read More…

Busy Chopping Squares
Beheadings in Saudi Arabia used to be saved for Saudi citizens. They were designed to create incapacitating and omnipresent fear in people’s hearts in order to remind them of what’s awaiting those amongst them who might contemplate undermining the royals’ control over every aspect of their lives. Read More…

Attempt to Weaken Abdullah’s Support
It is public knowledge that the relationships between King Abdullah and his senior brothers, especially Interior Minister Prince Naïf, Governor of Riyadh Prince Salman, and to a lesser degree, Defense Minister and Crown Prince Sultan, have been tense and less cordial than between previous kings and their siblings. King Abdullah, whose ascendance to the throne in August of 2005 was considered sheer luck rather than family preference, has had thorny relationships with his half brothers, the powerful and long time power wielders known as the Sudairi Seven. Read More…

Gross Violation of Basic Human Rights
Abdurrahman Al-Lahem is a law abiding Saudi lawyer who defends his fellow citizens in Saudi courts. Mr. Al-Lahem is known for his courage to challenge the Saudi courts’ arbitrary deliberations and the heavy handedness of the ferocious Saudi Arabian religious police. Read More…

Protesting Capricious and Unjustified Arrests
Many Saudis, especially intellectuals, but also people across the board, are pushing for better governing systems to replace their present dormant institutions. The Saudi government’s reforms have been put on hold and in some cases things are going backwards. Incarcerations of reformers for their simple recommendations, such as improving prison conditions, are common practice. Read More…

Kittens are Threats to Saudi Morality
While all eyes and ears are occupied with the Olympics in Beijing, the Saudi theocrats are busy doing what they do best: issuing Fatawas, religious edicts, and royal decrees to ban anything that might bring a little joy to people or encourage harmless conversations, especially between men and women. The Saudi government’s religious police found the sales and ownership of little kittens to be a public annoyance and a threat to Saudi moral values. Read More…

Illegitimate Gulf Rulers
An Iranian official’s recent provocative designation of the oil rich Arab states’ rulers as “illegitimate” is neither new nor incorrect. All Arab Gulf States’ rulers are illegitimate as none is popularly elected and the feuds and mistrust between Sunni Arabs and Persian Shiites’ are centuries old. Such problems are unlikely to be resolved as long as Arab and Persian theocratic elites use religion to control, oppress and marginalize their people and discriminate against non-Muslims. Iran’s intent now is to radicalize Arab Gulf States’ large and vocal Shiite populations against their autocratic Sunni Arab rulers to remind them that Iran is in a position to cause trouble for these states if they support any efforts by the US and/or Israel to carry out attacks on Iranian nuclear faculties. Read More…

Defending the Homeland
“The finding of weapons and dangerous explosives to carry out subversive acts and destroy economic installations… should not be taken lightly… You should be aware that these militants, who claim to work for the cause of Islam and defend Muslims, actually hide their vested interests and vicious objectives.” These are quotes from the Saudi Mufti, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh, the highest religious authority in Saudi Arabia. CDHR could not agree more with the Mufti’s profound comments. However, we would like to ask the Mufti to tell the Saudi and the world peoples: Who are these men and women who seem to be determined to overthrow the Saudi-Wahhabi autocratic system? Read More…

Abuse of Public Opinion
A recent public opinion survey by the University of Michigan claimed the Saudis are the happiest people in the Arab World. For money, American Universities, public relations agencies, beneficiary think tanks, highly compensated individuals, politicians, and businesses will travel any distance to make the Saudi monarchs look good even when it harms the US, its people, and democratic values. Sadly, these entities and people know that the Saudis are among the most voiceless, deprived, and oppressed people in the world. The image polishers and promoters of Saudi policies know that all forms of expressions and assemblages in Saudi Arabia are barred. They know that all forms of entertainment including movies, musical stages, acting, orchestra, night clubs, bars, consumption of alcohol, mingling between opposite sexes, birthday celebrations, and any activity that brings joy to people are forbidden and considered, Bedah (novelty) or the creation of infidels to corrupt Islam. Read More…

Rehabilitating Guantanamo Bay Returnees
Ostensibly, former Saudi Guantanamo Bay prisoners receive intense rehabilitation and deprogramming treatement under the auspices of the Saudi Ministry of Interior that discourages them from rejoining violent groups after the US hands them back to Saudi authorities. The de-programming is conducted mostly by religious people who encourage the former prisoners (considered by the US as terrorist killers) to dedicate their lives to the service of Islam, God, and the royal family. Read More…

Is Islam the Problem?
While there are many schools of thought and interpretations of the Quran, Shari’ah Law and Hadith (the Prophet’s conversations), it is argued by many Muslim scholars that the Saudi brand of Islam, Wahhabism, has hijacked Islam and turned it into a system of oppression, segregation, disenfranchisement and hate against non-Muslims and Muslim minorities for reasons of political control. Read More…

British Rule of Law versus Terror Threats
The scandalous and highly contested corruption case concerning how to handle the large sums of money given by the British military hardware manufacturers to Saudi princes in order to make a lucrative arms sale go through is being resurrected after former Prime Minister Tony Blair overrode the British judicial system to appease the Saudis. It is reported that Tony Blair’s reason for compromising his nation’s democratic judicial system came about as a result of a threat by the Saudis to withdraw the deal and stop providing the British with information about potential terrorist attacks on Britain. Read More…

Release of a Courageous Saudi Blogger
Fouad Al-Farhan, a Saudi blogger, was arbitrarily arrested by Prince Naif’s infamous Ministry of Interior on December 10, 2007, for reasons undeclared. His incarceration brought national and international protests, especially from fellow bloggers, but also human rights activists, free press advocates and democratic reformers. Al-Farhan was released on April 26, after almost five months of being held in prison without charge. Read More…

A Courageous Saudi Blogger languishes in Saudi Prison
When the courageous and well known Saudi blogger, Fouad Al Farhan, was arrested on December 11th, 2007, by Prince Naif’s Ministry of Interior, many Saudis knew it was because he had posted blogs demanding reforms in Saudi Arabia. Another belief is that his arrest was the immediate result of his refusal to retract some of his blogposts criticizing Saudi officials. Although the government denied these allegations, it has become clear that Fouad’s criticism and demands were what led to his unjustified and arbitrary arrest, because no other charges have been brought against him. Read More…

Codifying Shariah Law is Overdue
Shariah law is an arbitrary system subject to any interpretation and implementation by any judge in Saudi Arabia, yet it is also the law of the land. There are many discourses among Muslims as to the origin, interpretation and application of Shariah law. Modernity, globalization and unprecedented economic interdependence demand accountability, transparency, rule of law and independent judicial systems, operated by modern men and women who have diverse religious and secular training. These men and women should either be elected or appointed based on their merits and service to the public. Read More…

Spending Money on Education is Not Enough
The University of Shanghai, in Communist China conducted a survey of 3,000 universities worldwide last year and ranked Saudi universities only above Somalia and Djibouti, which led a Saudi citizen to say, “I learn something new, I did not even know Somalia and Djibouti have universities.” The unjustifiable, unacceptable and dangerous scientific backwardness in Saudi Arabia lies squarely on the shoulders and conscious of the Saudi royal family’s system, which intentionally puts Salafist religious extremists in charge of education. Read More…

In the News

Annihilation of Critical Thinking in Young Minds

20 face lash, prison for dancing in Saudi Arabia

Meet the Flinstones

All Charges against Al-Harbi Dropped