Riyadh, January 25: The Human Rights Watch has seriously questioned Saudi Arabia’s mistreatment of women, foreign labor and the Kingdom’s Shia minority.
The NGO warned on Monday that Riyadh was either suppressing or failing to protect the rights of the people, while only managing to ceremonially carry out required reforms, AFP reported.
“Authorities continue to systematically suppress or fail to protect the rights of nine million Saudi women and girls, eight million foreign workers, and some two million Shia citizens,” the body said in its annual report for 2010.
The Kingdom’s practices wahhabism — an extremely intolerant interpretation of Islam as its official religion. The school is known for the strict limits it imposes on the females who, in line with its strictures, are not allowed to drive or visit the shrine of the Shia religious figures.
“Asian embassies report thousands of complaints each year from domestic workers forced to work 15-20 hours a day, seven days a week, and denied their salaries,” the report said.
“Official discrimination against Shias encompasses religious practices, education and the justice system. Government officials exclude Shias from certain public jobs and policy questions and publicly disparage their faith.”
Wahabbists are also notorious for using political influence to oppress the Kingdom’s Shias, which comprise roughly 10 to 15 percent of the population. The Saudi wahhabists, also known as Salafists, have been blamed for fueling and funding terrorism against Shia Muslims as well as others across the world.
——–Agencies