Continuous deterioration of the file of freedoms in Saudi Arabia under...

Two years after the assassination of the prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in his country’s consulate in Istanbul, it is noticed that nothing of what Saudi Arabia had to learn from this case, and to initiate changes to its internal policies to change the image in which it appeared to the world, did not happen.

It can be said that the Al Saud regime escaped the tremor it was subjected to in the aftermath of the assassination scandal, after some of its friends extended a helping hand and made many concessions in return for that, but what could have made this escape more permanent and stable is the decision on the file of this case. Transparency, as well as deciding on the file of freedoms in the country, to get out to others with a new look for the state that is not afraid to shake its throne with a word published by an activist on social media, or an activist’s demand for the freedom of women to drive a car.

Two years later, the Khashoggi assassination case still hangs over all aspects of the kingdom’s political, and even economic, life, and casts its foreign relations with a pattern of stalemate and suspicion.

As the image of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, isolated during the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, in late November 2018, is still visible to everyone in the Kingdom, and to those who follow its conditions.

At that time, the echoes of the crime, the violation of human rights in the country, as well as the echoes of the crimes that the Arab coalition forces, led by his country, were violating in their war on Yemen, was the most common news in the media and among diplomats. Since those days, the Kingdom has not sought to change its image, has not adopted transparency in the Khashoggi case, or made a breakthrough in the human rights file within it, nor has it changed its scorched earth policy in Yemen.

And here the important question arises: Why do the kingdom’s leaders insist on continuing the same policy that brought them to the isolation that was imposed on them after the Khashoggi murder? This isolation, which could not be imagined how severe it would be, had it not been for the rescue of US President Donald Trump bin Salman when he prevented the US Congress from pursuing him and bringing him to court, and perhaps incriminating him for his direct responsibility for it.

Bin Salman, despite all the response to his image, insists on continuing to pursue reformers and dissidents inside and outside the kingdom. It also continues to exclude potential competitors and anyone it believes poses a threat to his succession to the throne after the death of his father.

The last victim was his cousin Fahd bin Turki bin Abdul Aziz, when he dismissed him from the position of commander of the joint forces in Yemen, and his son, Abdul Aziz, was removed from the position of deputy governor of Al-Jawf region on charges of corruption, and they joined many articles from their positions, led by the former Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef.

As for the issue of freedoms, bin Salman decided to proceed with a policy of repression and killing opponents on top of martyrs, which indicates that he did not learn from the Khashoggi case.

This is confirmed by his plan to assassinate Saad al-Jabri, an advisor to the former crown prince, Muhammad bin Nayef, an attempt that was thwarted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, and which al-Jabri relied on its reasons in filing a lawsuit before the US judiciary against bin Salman and his assistants for the attempt to assassinate him in a manner similar to the method of luring Khashoggi and his assassination.

The regime in Saudi Arabia also continues to arrest those calling for reforms, including activists, human rights activists, academics, advocates, and others. An irony of fate is the arrest of the activist Loujain Al-Hathoul, who was one of the advocates for the right of women to drive, and one of the demands that she be allowed to do so, who was arrested despite the legalization of this right.

The Al Saud regime overlooks the fact that the two reforms, the economic and the political, and their linkage with the social issue, which without addressing the problems within it, any structure within it will be subject to demolition, driven by the policies of its imperfect daughters, or by the protests of the people of the country whose reform processes did not take into account the requirements of their decent living in a space From equality, justice and dignity, any economic reform, such as what bin Salman proposed in the framework of “Saudi Arabia 2030 Vision,” requires a politically stable environment, in which the enforcement of laws and the constitution is strengthened, taking into account public freedoms, participating in decision-making and monitoring the extent of its anchorage on laws and the constitution, as well as And relying on the constitution to adopt the fight against corruption and accountability, in addition to adopting the conditions for sustainable development in reform plans.

Therefore, ignoring the social issue, and perhaps deliberately ignoring it, was a reason for the leaders of the kingdom to objectify its citizens and ease targeting them with murder, oppression and absenteeism, and thus a reason for bringing international discontent that appears to isolate the kingdom and its leaders, and to destroy the unbridled plans of the Crown Prince.

It did not occur to bin Salman, when he orchestrated the attempt to assassinate Al-Jabri, that the American judiciary could issue a summons to appear before him, along with 13 of his assistants, on charges of planning to implement it. The Federal Court in Washington issued a summons order against all of them to appear before it, and it seems Here, the chances of evading this crime are few, compared to the opportunities that were afforded to him to evade Khashoggi’s crime.

It also did not occur to bin Salman that what the people of the country became after he took office and followed a policy of repression, they could not remain on him until God willing. That is why, last month (September), we witnessed the announcement of the establishment of the National Rally Party, abroad, “which aims to consolidate democracy in the system of government.”

And also the launch of the “Democracy for the Arab World Now” organization, an entity that Khashoggi himself was planning to establish before his departure, and after he saw that there is no stability in the Arab region without releasing personal freedoms and media freedoms and preserving human dignity in it. These initiatives would not have existed without the policy of ignoring calls for reform, and proceeding with the policy of exclusion pursued by bin Salman, to become the sole decision-maker, at a time when his countrymen became more eager to emancipate.