0

In 2021, Saudi Arabia announced that Mustafa al-Darwish had been executed. He was arrested in 2015, and many of the offenses he was charged with occurred when he was 17 years old; see here and here.

Has President Biden spoken about this event? Did he comment on other, similar events (human right issues) prior to the election? Are there differences between positions he has taken in the past and more recent statements?

5
  • 5
    Suggestion: I think the question should either focus on the US official view about executing minors, or on Biden's position about Saudi Arabia in general (this is not the only case of human rights concerns in Saudi Arabia). Otherwise it looks like a question in bad faith, which is probably why people are downvoting it.
    – Erwan
    Jun 22, 2021 at 10:46
  • 4
    This does not look like a discrediting question. It is a legitimate question asking about a political figure's public stances Jun 22, 2021 at 14:08
  • 5
    @NumberFile The prominent mention of Mustafa al-Darwish is what makes this a discrediting question in my eyes. It changes the question from "What's Biden's stance on Saudi Arabia's human rights issues?" (which isn't a push question) to an implicit "Look how terrible Saudi Arabia's human rights issues are! Why isn't Biden doing more to stop them?" (which is).
    – F1Krazy
    Jun 22, 2021 at 14:10
  • 1
    Maybe, that's some context, to prevent people asking "what human rights issues?" Though, it definitely may be re-worded to underline, that this is an example Jun 22, 2021 at 14:38
  • 1
    @user2501323 In that case, we could link to a more general source such as Human rights in Saudi Arabia. The focus on this one case as well as Biden specific does seem like a bit of a push question (it's also a bit of an odd push, considering that Saudi Arabia has violated human rights for decades and not every violation is spoken about by every president).
    – tim
    Jun 22, 2021 at 16:00

1 Answer 1

5

Here is an article on the Washington Post titled "Joe Biden is making clear that Saudi human rights violations won’t be ignored", and "Biden is trying to strike a balance between promoting human rights and American interests." under the title.

In a recent call with the Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, President Biden struck a tone seldom witnessed in U.S.-Saudi diplomatic dialogue: one of subtle confrontation. During the conversation, Biden “affirmed the importance the United States places on universal human rights and the rule of law” in the wake of an intelligence report directly implicating Saudi Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman in the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

This recalibration of the U.S.-Saudi relationship marks a sharp break from Donald Trump’s deference toward Saudi Arabia. Even so Biden is taking no direct-action against bin Salman, which has fueled a variety of objections from everyone from Congressional Democrats to exiled Saudi dissidents, like Madawi al-Rasheed. And this is not the first time human rights have been subordinated to safeguarding the American partnership with the Saudis. Despite these objections, Biden is making clear that the U.S. should have both a strategic partnership with the Saudis and work toward human rights. While this position is rare, and it often does not go far enough, it is needed to better match U.S. human rights rhetoric to reality.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .