British Lawyers Ask For Saudi Arabia’s Suspension From UN Human Rights Council

Two human rights lawyers from the United Kingdom today (30 January) said that they would push for the suspension of Saudi Arabia from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) over "arbitrary detention or disappearance" of 61 people by authorities, reports AFP.

The two lawyers – Ken Macdonald and Rodney Dixon – released a statement that they intend to submit their report to the UNHRC in Geneva on Wednesday (31 January), stating that the arrests of the 61 people breached both Saudi and international law.

The report accuses Saudi authorities of targeting human rights activists, political dissidents and others merely exercising their right to free speech and is a part of an ongoing and long-running pattern of abuse by the Arabian kingdom.

The report concludes by asking the UN General Assembly to suspend oil-rich nation’s membership of the UNHRC under a resolution that allows such suspensions when members commit "gross and systematic human rights violations”.

Several Saudi citizens have been arrested and convicted of dissent charges under various cyber crime laws, particularly over Twitter posts. Earlier, Saudi and its allies cut off all diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar accusing it of having links to Islamic extremists, a charge denied by Doha.