[ad_1]
Saudi Arabia has apologized to Canada for calling for the release of Saudi women's rights activists and for Canada to stop treating the kingdom as a "banana republic" when it wants to resolve a dispute diplomacy in progress.
"We do not want to be a political football in Canada's domestic politics, find another ball to play with" says FMinister of Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir said Wednesday night at the Foreign Relations Council in New York.
"It's very easy to repair, please excuse me and say you made a mistake."
In August, Saudi Arabia froze new trade with Canada, blocked grain imports, expelled Canada's ambassador and ordered all Saudi students to return home.
Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said earlier this week that she hopes to meet Al-Jubeir on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to discuss the dispute. This meeting never took place.
The Saudi Foreign Minister has described Canada's criticism of the arrests of militants as "scandalous".
"We demand the immediate liberation and independence of Quebec, the granting of equal rights to the Indians of Canada … You can sit down and talk about it, but demand immediate release [of the Saudis]? What we, a republic of bananas? Would a country accept it? No! We do not do it. "
The Department of Foreign Affairs of Canada had stated in a tweet that he was "gravely concerned" by the detention of militants in the kingdom, including Samar Badawi.
Canada is gravely concerned by the additional arrests of civil society activists and women's rights advocates #Saudi Arabia, including Samar Badawi. We urge the Saudi authorities to release them immediately as well as all others #rights of the man activists.
– CAN Foreign Policy (@CanadaFP) August 3, 2018
Samar is the sister of Raif Badawi, a prominent human rights defender sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2014 for insulting Islam. His wife and children are naturalized Canadian citizens.
Freeland said Tuesday that Ottawa would not change its position.
"Canada will always stand up for human rights … We have a special obligation to women who fight for their rights around the world," she said. "And we feel a special obligation to those who have a personal connection with Canada."
A number of women's rights activists – who campaigned for the right to drive and end the kingdom's male guardianship system – were targeted.
Germany and Saudi Arabia agreed earlier this week to end a diplomatic dispute. Their intervention began last November, when German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel at the time condemned "adventurism" in the Middle East.
SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies
[ad_2]Source link
