Biden to visit former 'pariah' Saudi Biden to visit former 'pariah' Saudi Arabia: reports

France24 –AFP, 3 June 2022 

US President Joe Biden will reportedly visit Saudi Arabia, whose leaders he
once said should be pariahs SAUL LOEB AFP

Washington (AFP) – US President Joe Biden will visit Saudi Arabia this month, reports said Thursday, a stark reversal for a leader who once called for the kingdom to be made a pariah. 

The reported decision comes hours after Saudi Arabia addressed two of Biden's priorities by agreeing to a production hike in oil and helping extend a truce in war-battered Yemen. 

The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN, quoting anonymous sources, said that Biden would go ahead with the long-rumored Saudi stop on an upcoming trip. 

CNN said that Biden would meet Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, 36-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was accused by US intelligence of ordering the 2018 murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. 

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said she had no travel to announce, adding only: "The president will look for opportunities to engage with leaders from the Middle East region." 

Biden plans this month to travel to a NATO summit in Spain and Group of Seven summit in Germany. 

He is also widely expected to travel to Israel where, as in Saudi Arabia, he is sure to face pointed questions about slow-moving US diplomacy with the two countries' rival, Iran. 

While running for president, Biden called for Saudi leaders to be treated as "the pariah that they are" after the ultraconservative kingdom's chummy relationship with his predecessor Donald Trump. 

Trump had largely shielded Saudi Arabia from consequences after Khashoggi, a US resident who wrote critically about Crown Prince Mohammed in The Washington Post, was lured into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul where he was strangled and dismembered. 

Trump's son-in-law and top aide, Jared Kushner, had developed a close bond with the prince known by his initials "MBS," reportedly conversing with him over WhatsApp chats. 

Shortly after taking office, Biden released the intelligence report that said MBS authorized Khashoggi's killing and his administration imposed visa restrictions on dozens of Saudis accused of threatening dissidents. 

Biden also scaled back support from a Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen amid revulsion over civilian casualties. 

Addressing some US concerns

A close partner of the United States since the World War II era, Saudi Arabia has repeatedly managed to woo administrations in Washington that initially sought a greater distance. 

US officials were pleasantly surprised on Thursday as major oil producers led by Saudi Arabia grouped under OPEC+ agreed to a larger than expected hike in oil production.

Then US president Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman
speak during the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan in June 2019 Ludovic MARIN AFP/File

A rise in supply could help bring down skyrocketing prices at the pump, seen as a major contributor to sagging poll numbers for Biden whose Democratic Party faces difficult congressional elections in November. 

Officials in Washington said that Saudi Arabia was also supportive in diplomacy that led Thursday to the extension of a fragile two-month truce between Yemen's Riyadh-backed government and Iranian-affiliated Huthi rebels. 

"Saudi Arabia demonstrated courageous leadership by taking initiatives early on to endorse and implement terms of the UN-led truce," Biden said in a statement. 

Saudi Arabia has also addressed concerns of US officials who saw the kingdom as overbearing in troubled Lebanon. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, presenting an annual report on religious freedom, praised "important recent moves" to increase interfaith dialogue even as he acknowledges that the kingdom still bans any public practice of religions other than Islam. 

How to address human rights will likely be a complicated question for Biden, with MBS reportedly angered when US officials previously raised the killing of Khashoggi. 

In a rare interview earlier this year with The Atlantic, MBS said of whether Biden understood him: "Simply, I do not care." 

"It's up to him to think about the interests of America," he said with a shrug.Arabia: reports 

Spanish king distances himself from scandal-hit father

Yahoo – AFP, March 15, 2020

Juan Carlos handed over power to his son, Felipe in 2014 (AFP Photo/Juanjo Martín)

Madrid (AFP) - King Felipe VI of Spain moved Sunday to distance himself from his scandal-hit father, stripping him of his palace allowance and renouncing what he was due to inherit from him.

A statement from the palace announced that he had stripped the former king Juan Carlos, of his allowance and was himself renouncing what he was due to inherit from him.

The announcement came after media reports that Juan Carlos had received 100 million dollars (90 million euros) from Saudi Arabia via an offshore account -- and that King Felipe himself was also a beneficiary.

The money was lodged in a Swiss bank account in the name of a Panamanian foundation.

In the palace statement, the reigning king said that in April he had made it clear to a notary that he would accept no money from the foundation in question.

He also that he had absolutely no knowledge of having been named as a beneficiary to another foundation, which according to press reports paid millions of euros towards his father's flights in private jets.

On Tuesday, the Spanish parliament decided against launching an investigation into suspected money laundering by the former king Juan Carlos.

Reported Saudi payments to ex-king

Spain's hard-left Podemos party had called for it after reports earlier this month that in 2008 Juan Carlos received $100 million from Saudi king Abdallah via the Swiss account of an entity listed in Panama.

The Swiss daily Tribune de Geneve added that in 2012, $65 million of that sum was given by the king to his former mistress, Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein.

Then a report in Britain's Daily Telegraph said that 52-year-old King Felipe was also a beneficiary of the fund, which it said had been set up when Juan Carlos was still on the throne.

Juan Carlos, now 82, came to the throne after the death of the military dictator Francisco Franco in 1975 and is widely respected for having favoured a transition to democracy.

But he lost his immunity from prosecution after handing power to his son, Felipe, in June 2014 following a 39-year reign.

He resigned from public life last year after a series of scandals about his private life.

In 2012, he outraged Spaniards by going elephant hunting in Botswana at the height of the country's recession.

Spanish reports say Juan Carlos has until now received an annual allowance from the state of more than 194,000 euros.

Saudi 'not consulted' over US strike that killed Iran general

Yahoo – AFP, Anuj Chopra, January 5, 2020

Iran vowed revenge following the US strike that killed top commander Qasem
Soleimani at Baghdad airport (AFP Photo)

Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi Arabia was not consulted by its ally Washington over a US drone strike that killed a top Iranian general, an official said Sunday, as the kingdom sought to defuse soaring regional tensions.

Saudi Arabia faces a "heightened risk" of missile and drone attacks, the United States warned, after Tehran vowed "revenge" following the strike on Friday that killed powerful commander Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad.

"The kingdom of Saudi Arabia was not consulted regarding the US strike," a Saudi official told AFP, requesting anonymity.

"In light of the rapid developments, the kingdom stresses the importance of exercising restraint to guard against all acts that may lead to escalation, with severe consequences," the official added.

Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry made a similar call for restraint at the weekend and King Salman emphasised the need for measures to defuse tensions in a phone call on Saturday with Iraqi President Barham Saleh.

In a separate phone call with Iraq's caretaker premier Adel Abdel Mahdi, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stressed "the need to make efforts to calm the situation and de-escalate tensions", the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

The crown prince has instructed Prince Khalid bin Salman, his younger brother and deputy defence minister, to travel to Washington and London in the next few days to urge restraint, the pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported.

Prince Khalid will meet White House and US defence officials, the paper said, citing unnamed sources.

The killing of Soleimani, seen as the second most powerful man in Iran, is the most dramatic escalation yet in spiralling tensions between Washington and Tehran and has prompted fears of a major conflagration in the Middle East.

US President Donald Trump, who ordered the drone strike, has warned that Washington will hit Iran "very fast and very hard" if the Islamic republic attacks American personnel or assets.

'Expect reprisals'

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, both allies of Washington, are also vulnerable to Iranian counter strikes.

The American embassy in Riyadh on Sunday warned its citizens there was a "heightened risk of missile and drone attacks" close to military bases and energy facilities, particularly in the kingdom's oil-rich Eastern Province and areas near the Yemen border.

A string of attacks blamed on Iran has caused anxiety in recent months, as Riyadh and Washington deliberated over how to react.

In particular, devastating strikes against Saudi oil installations last September led Riyadh and Abu Dhabi to adopt a more conciliatory approach aimed at avoiding confrontation with Tehran.

Analysts warn that pro-Iran groups have the capacity to carry out attacks on US bases in Gulf states as well as against shipping in the Strait of Hormuz -- the strategic waterway that Tehran could close at will.

"Expect Iranian reprisals (directly or through partner groups in Iraq, Lebanon or elsewhere) to target US partners in the region including Saudi Arabia," said Thomas Juneau, an assistant professor at the University of Ottawa.

"Given the climate in the US, where support for Saudi in the media and Congress is at an all time low, it will be difficult for Trump to commit significant resources to come to its aid."

Yemen's pro-Iran Huthi rebels, locked in a five-year conflict with a Saudi-led military coalition, have also called for swift reprisals for Soleimani's killing.

"The aggression... will not go without a response," said Huthi political council member Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti.

"How the response is going to be, when and where will be determined by Iraq and Iran, and we will stand with them as a hub for the resistance."

It was unclear if the Huthi warning was directed in part at Saudi Arabia, which has stepped up efforts to end Yemen's conflict amid a lull in Huthi attacks on the kingdom.

Saudi military commanders recently met with counterparts from "friendly countries" to formulate a new strategy to tackle the Yemeni rebels, particularly those "opposing" a political solution, according to Asharq al-Awsat.

Riyadh has said it will host a separate meeting of foreign ministers of Arab and African coastal states on Monday.

Pakistan PM in Tehran on mission to 'facilitate' Iran-Saudi talks

Yahoo – AFP, October 13, 2019

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan met with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
and warned against a conflict between Tehran and Riyadh (AFP Photo)

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Iran on Sunday on a mission to act as a "facilitator" between Tehran and Riyadh and try to defuse rising tensions in the Gulf.

Khan held talks with President Hassan Rouhani at the presidential palace and later met with Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to the leader's official website.

He is expected to visit Saudi Arabia next on Tuesday.

"The reason for this trip is that we do not want a conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran," Khan told reporters as he stood alongside Rouhani.

"Whatever it takes we must never allow this conflict to take place, because we know, Mr. President, that there is a vested interest that wants this to take place," he told Rouhani.

Noting that it was a "complex" issue that can be resolved through talks, Khan warned that any conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia would "cause poverty in the world".

Pakistan has strong relations with Saudi Arabia, with more than 2.5 million of its nationals living and working in the kingdom, but it also maintains good relations with Iran and represents Tehran's consular interests in the United States.

This is Khan's second visit this year to Iran, which shares a border of about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) with Pakistan.

Emphasising that the visits to Tehran and Riyadh were Pakistan's "initiative", Khan said he was also approached by US President Donald Trump to "facilitate some sort of dialogue between Iran and the United States".

Iran's supreme told Khan that the Islamic republic has "no hostility" towards its neighbours but warned that whoever instigates war will "undoubtedly regret" it, Khamenei's official website said.

Khan lauded Khamenei's "personal commitment... to the cause of Kashmir", a region split between India and Pakistan and a regular source of conflict between the two neighbours, a statement from his office said.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Pakistani Premier Imran Khan that 

anyone who starts a war against the Islamic republic will "undoubtedly regret" it (AFP 

Photo/Handout)

Tanker attacks

Tehran and Washington have been at loggerheads since the US withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in May last year and reimposed sanctions on the Islamic republic.

In talks with Khan, Rouhani repeated Iran's official line that the United States must return to the deal and lift sanctions before any talks can take place.

"Any goodwill gesture and good words will be reciprocated with a goodwill gesture and good words," he said.

Rouhani said he had expressed Iran's concern about Gulf security and especially a "missile attack" Friday on an Iranian vessel off the Saudi coast.

"We expressed our concerns to the prime minister about the incidents happening to oil tankers, especially the Iranian oil tanker in the Red Sea on Friday," he said.

Tehran says the Iranian-flagged Sabiti tanker was hit by two separate explosions off the Saudi port of Jeddah, making it the first Iranian vessel targeted since a spate of attacks in the Gulf that Washington has blamed on Tehran.

Rouhani said he had presented Khan with evidence from the incident and that investigations were ongoing.

"If a country thinks that it can cause insecurity in the region and not receive a proper response, it is mistaken," Rouhani said, without elaborating.

There has been a series of still-unexplained attacks on shipping in and around the vital seaway involving Iran and Western powers, as well as drone attacks on Saudi oil installations.

Washington has accused Tehran of attacking the vessels with mines and of being behind the drone assault, something it strongly denies.

Khan met both Rouhani and Trump at the United Nations General Assembly last month, shortly after he visited Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia.

The Pakistan premier said he was "very encouraged" by talking to Rouhani and will go to Saudi Arabia "in a very positive frame of mind", hoping the two countries can "iron out their differences."

Related Article:

Israeli minister seeks 'non-aggression' pacts with Gulf Arab nations

Israeli minister seeks 'non-aggression' pacts with Gulf Arab nations

Yahoo – AFP, October 6, 2019

Foreign Minister Israel Katz attends the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's
office in Jerusalem on February 17, 2019 (AFP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Sunday he was seeking "non-aggression" agreements with Gulf Arab nations that do not formally recognise the country as a prelude to possible future peace deals.

Details of the proposal were not made public, but it was the latest sign of Israel's push to improve ties with Gulf Arab nations with whom it has no formal diplomatic relations.

Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory has long served as a major factor preventing peace deals with Arab countries, but common concerns over Iran are widely seen as having brought them closer in recent years.

"Recently, I have been promoting, under the backing of the United States, a political initiative to sign 'non-aggression agreements' with the Arab Gulf states," Katz wrote on Twitter.

"The historic move will put an end to the conflict and allow civilian cooperation until peace agreements are signed."

Katz said he discussed the initiative with unnamed Arab foreign ministers and US President Donald Trump's outgoing envoy Jason Greenblatt while attending the UN General Assembly in late September.

A spokesman for Katz declined to provide further details for now, and it was not clear how much progress he has made in the endeavour.

Only two Arab countries -- Jordan and Egypt -- have peace treaties with Israel, but there have been overt signs in recent months of improved relations with Gulf nations.

A year ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held surprise talks with Oman's Sultan Qaboos in Muscat.

Katz in July said he had met his Bahraini counterpart publicly for the first time during a visit to Washington.

In late June, a group of Israeli journalists attended the US-led economic conference on Israeli-Palestinian peace in Bahrain.

All did not go well, however, when a group of invitees from Arab states visited Israel in July.

Palestinians hurled abuse and chairs at a member of the delegation -- a Saudi blogger -- as he visited east Jerusalem's Old City.

East Jerusalem was occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed in a move never recognised by the international community.

Israel sees the entire city as its capital, while the Palestinians see the eastern sector as the capital of their future state.

Related Article:

"THE BRIDGE OF SWORDS"– Sep  29, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“… What have we told you about the bridge? Actually, not much except that in crossing the bridge, the old energy ones were not going to like it. Old energy does not want you to escape! Old energy doesn't want you to cross the bridge because it can't cross. Did you know that? It can't cross. The old paradigms of Human nature that you've known all of these millenniums have to stay on the old side of the bridge. It cannot cross, for the bridge rejects all that is not in love, compassion and light. Those things that are dark, including Human nature of the past, will not be able to go. But the ones I speak to right now are already on the bridge. That was your design, old soul, and those are the words that are ringing in your ears to this day and the ones given at the wind of birth, that this might happen in your lifetime. So what's going to happen next?

Swords

Let us talk about the swords: When you hear the word sword, the first thing that occurs to you is battle. The Bridge of Swords is a battle and we told you that as well. Swords are metaphoric and they mean many things, so let us describe the things we mean them to say to you.

Number one: They are indeed a weapon in a battle. There is a battle coming. "Kryon, does that mean there's going to be a war?" Potentially, yes. Right now we will tell you that the Middle East cooks itself. You've noticed, haven't you? What do you know about the Middle East, dear one? Let's start examining things for a moment. What energy did you grow up in? What was the energy of the Middle East? In the '40s, what was the energy? With the establishment of the state of Israel, you built a wall of hate, both sides. The wall was so thick that the children of both sides were taught to hate one another as soon as they were able to understand the language. They were told who their enemies were. Now, where were you then?

Some of you weren't here yet. By the time you arrived, in your youth, were you aware of the Middle East? Not particularly. "What's the hatred about?" you might ask. What if I told you it's about a family feud? Two sons of a Jewish master are involved. One founded the Arabs and one remained a Jew. They don't want to hear this, but they are all Jews. (Don't tell them this.)

If you look at the lineage, it's pretty obvious and yet it's a complete and total set-up for either solution or war. The set-up would have this world ending in a conflagration that would have been brought about by this hatred. That's in the prophecy of Nostradamus and your scripture, but it is no longer the prophecy of the planet. Yet the hatred still exists. The hatred is as great today as it was then, but where was all the terrorism 40 years ago? It was isolated.

Those in Israel and Palestine and surrounding areas took the brunt of it, but now it's seemingly everywhere - and you're worried. Why would this be? The answer is that the old energy was happy to have this hatred contained, for it would keep it going and never involve outsiders. Outsiders tend to bring unwanted light to the party. Suddenly, the whole earth is involved and can see the entire scenario before them. The old guard wants war, just like all the eons before them. The ones on the bridge are holding the light and showing the earth how to cross. Even many younger ones in Israel and Palestine and Iran are holding light! It's all around the old guard and they are furious, for they are losing the "battle of hatred." …”

Justice eludes slain Saudi critic as crackdown persists

Yahoo – AFP, Anuj Chopra, October 1, 2019

The murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom's consulate in
Istanbul one year ago sparked global outrage, much of it directed against de f
acto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (AFP Photo/Yasin AKGUL)

Riyadh (AFP) - Global outrage over Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder has dissipated a year after the killing, but justice remains elusive with opaque trial proceedings and the government cracking down on dissent.

Seeking to draw a line under one of its worst diplomatic crises, Saudi Arabia has put 11 unidentified suspects on trial for the murder in its Istanbul consulate last October, with five of them facing the death penalty.

But the murder is said to have involved a 15-man team of Saudi agents, and both the CIA and a UN special envoy have directly linked de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the killing, a charge the kingdom denies.

Conspicuously absent from the closed-door trial that began in January is Saud al-Qahtani, the royal court's media czar and a close confidant of the prince, who was sacked over his suspected role in the affair.

In the latest court session in July, one of Khashoggi's relatives challenged Qahtani's absence and demanded that he be summoned to testify, two Western officials privy to the information told AFP.

It was unclear what prompted the appeal or whether the Saudi court will accept it.

Saudi Arabia has put 11 suspects on trial for Khashoggi's murder but the hearings are 

held behind closed doors and the names of the defendants have not even been 

released (AFP Photo/OZAN KOSE)

But the request to bring in Qahtani –- who gained influence during Prince Mohammed's mercurial rise to power -- marks a stunning development in a trial thought to be tightly controlled by the state, one of the officials said.

Qahtani has long elicited fear in the kingdom, earning nicknames such as "troll master", "Mr Hashtag" and "lord of the flies" for managing an electronic army to defend the crown prince's image and intimidate his perceived critics.

Qahtani has not appeared in public since the murder and his whereabouts are unknown, sparking speculation over whether the kingdom is protecting him or keen to discipline him separately.

'Attempt to scapegoat'

Officials from the US, which has imposed sanctions on Qahtani for his part in the "planning and execution" of the operation that led to the murder, are known to have urged the crown prince to sever ties with him.

But a rupture may be complicated by the fact he is thought to be privy to sensitive state secrets.

"The removal and subsequent low profile of Saud al-Qahtani... can be seen not as a genuine step at reform, but as an attempt to scapegoat a high level official in order to give the impression Saudi is changing," Marc Owen Jones, a research fellow at Britain's Exeter University, told AFP.

Khashoggi's family have accepted the condolences of the Saudi government 

but have denied reports of a settlement (AFP Photo/Handout)

It remains unclear when the trial will conclude. The Saudi media ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Diplomats from the UN Security Council's permanent members –- Britain, China, France, Russia and the US –- as well as Turkey are allowed to attend as observers of the Saudi legal proceedings that are held entirely in Arabic.

They are not allowed to bring interpreters and are usually summoned at short notice, Western sources say.

Khashoggi's family, who are permitted to attend the trial, have rejected reports of a settlement with the Saudi government.

His son said on Twitter Tuesday that he has "full confidence" in the kingdom's judicial system and criticised "enemies in the East and West" who he said were exploiting the case to undermine the country and its leadership.

'No space for criticism'

Speaking to CBS's 60 Minutes ahead of the anniversary, Prince Mohammed denied ordering Khashoggi's killing, but said he "took full responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia".

Loujain al-Hathloul, who is among nearly a dozen women activists 

arrested in Saudi Arabia last year, remains in custody where she 

says she has been subjected to electric shocks, flogging and 

groping (AFP Photo)

Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings whose independent probe found "credible evidence" linking him to the murder and attempted cover-up, dismissed that defence.

"He is only taking corporate responsibility for the crime, which goes without saying," she told AFP.

Meanwhile, numerous critics of the crown prince remain imprisoned or are on trial.

Saudi authorities recently offered to release jailed activist Loujain al-Hathloul in exchange for her video testimony denying she had been tortured and sexually harassed in prison, according to her family.

Hathloul, among nearly a dozen women activists arrested just weeks before the kingdom lifted the ban on female motorists last year, has accused interrogators of subjecting them to electric shocks, flogging and groping.

The government vigorously denies the charge.

Since the murder, the Saudi king has sought to elevate the experienced old guard, widely seen to be sidelined by the young crown prince, to temper what critics describe as his rash policy decisions.

"There have been arrests of other intellectuals and activists and certainly no space for criticism of the leadership has been opened," said Kristin Diwan, from the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

"The overall direction of policy is unchanged."

Saudi Arabia to enforce 'decency' amid tourism push

Yahoo – AFP, September 28, 2019

Saudi Arabia on Friday said citizens from 49 countries are eligible for online
e-visas or visas on arrival (AFP Photo/Fayez Nureldine)

Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi Arabia on Saturday said it would impose fines for violations of "public decency", including immodest clothing and public displays of affection, a day after the austere kingdom opened up to foreign tourists.

The interior ministry said it had identified 19 such "offences" but did not specify the penalties, as the ultra-conservative Islamic country begins issuing tourist visas for the first time as part of a push to diversify its oil-reliant economy.

"The new regulations require men and women to dress modestly and to refrain from public displays of affection. Women are free to choose modest clothing," a statement said.

"The regulations are meant to ensure that visitors and tourists in the kingdom are aware of the law relating to public behaviour so that they comply with it."

Saudi Arabia on Friday said citizens from 49 countries are now eligible for online e-visas or visas on arrival, including the United States, Australia and several European nations.

Kickstarting tourism is one of the centrepieces of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's Vision 2030 reform programme to prepare the biggest Arab economy for a post-oil era.

But the conservative country, which forbids alcohol and is notorious for sex segregation, is seen as an unlikely destination for global tourists aside from Muslim pilgrims visiting holy sites in Mecca and Medina.

Men and women must avoid "tight fitting clothing" or clothes with "profane language or images", read an instruction on an English language website launched by the tourism authority.

"Women should cover shoulders and knees in public," it added.

But tourism chief Ahmed al-Khateeb said foreign women were not obligated to wear the body-shrouding abaya robe that is still mandatory public wear for Saudi women.

Prince Mohammed has sought to shake off his country's ultra-conservative image -- lifting a ban on cinemas and women drivers while allowing gender-mixed concerts and sporting extravaganzas.

The relaxed social norms in a kingdom have been welcomed by many Saudis, two-thirds of whom are under 30.

But new public decency guidelines, first approved by cabinet in April, are widely perceived to be vague and have sparked public concern that they would be open to interpretation.

They have also stoked fears of a revival of morality policing.

Saudi Arabia's religious police once elicited widespread fear, chasing men and women out of malls to pray and berating anyone seen mingling with the opposite sex.

But the bearded enforcers of public morality, whose powers have been clipped in recent years, are now largely out of sight.

Saudi Arabia is attempting a comeback on the global stage one year after journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder, but the crisis has weakened it and undermined its de facto leader's ambitious reforms, analysts say https://t.co/em7O5M25Ec pic.twitter.com/ZKdK9Nqwa6

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 29 september 2019

A personal bodyguard of Saudi Arabia's King Salman has been shot dead and seven others wounded, including security forces, during an altercation at a friend's home, authorities said https://t.co/25K67KmJ0d pic.twitter.com/SKz9nsf8dB

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 29 september 2019

Iran says 'blue girl' football fan admitted 'mistake'

Yahoo – AFP, 14 September 2019

Iran has come under increasing pressure to lift a ban on women entering
stadidums (AFP Photo/JONATHAN NACKSTRAND)

Tehran (AFP) - An Iranian football fan who set herself ablaze and died after being arrested for trying to enter a stadium had "confessed her mistake" when she was questioned, the judiciary said Saturday.

Sahar Khodayari, dubbed "blue girl" because of the colours of the team she supported, Esteghlal FC, was reportedly detained when she tried to enter a stadium dressed as a man to watch them last year.

She died of her injuries in a Tehran hospital after setting herself on fire outside a court last week.

Her death sparked outrage online, with celebrities and activists using the hashtag #blue_girl to urge the sport's world governing body FIFA to ban Iran from competitions and fans to boycott matches.

Iranian women spectators have been barred from football and other stadiums in the Islamic republic since 1981, despite international pressure to let them attend.

Iran's Vice President for Women and Family Affairs Masoumeh Ebtekar on Tuesday asked the judiciary to investigate her death.

The judiciary said, without naming anyone, that a young woman had been arrested when trying to enter a stadium and faced charges of offending "public chastity and insulting" law enforcement officers.

On Saturday, judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said Khodayari "had clearly confessed her mistake during questioning, accepted it and expressed regret". He did not give further details.

Esmaili, who was quoted by the judiciary's Mizan Online website, said no sentence had been issued against her since there had been no trial to begin with.

The spokesman also dismissed reports she had been told she would be jailed for six months as "fabricated rumours and hearsay".

Esmaili said such reports "stirred public opinion" and provided material for "foreigners and enemies" of Iran.

Despite the boycott calls following her death, Khodayari's father told Mehr news agency that she did not "sacrifice" herself for any cause.

Iran has come under pressure from FIFA to allow women to attend qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, and was reportedly given a deadline of August 31 to comply.

The sports ministry said last month that women fans would be allowed into the stadium when Team Melli -- as the national team are known -- play their next home qualifier on October 10.

Clerics argue that Iran's ban on women attending sports events is to protect them from the masculine atmosphere and sight of semi-clad men.

Related Article:

Saudi to allow women into stadium for national day

In rare US criticism, Pence urges Saudis to free blogger Badawi

France24 – AFP, 18 July 2019

US Vice President Mike Pence addresses a ministerial meeting at the State Department
on religious freedom (AFP)

Washington (AFP) - Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday urged Saudi Arabia to free Raif Badawi, a blogger jailed and publicly whipped for insulting Islam, in a rare criticism of the US ally as he vowed to champion religious freedom worldwide.

Speaking to dozens of government ministers who flew in for a conference on religious liberty, Pence offered usual US denunciations of adversaries such as China, Iran and Venezuela.

But Pence also raised the case of Badawi, whose public flogging in a Jeddah square in 2015 prompted an international uproar, as he grouped him with prisoners from Eritrea, Mauritania and Pakistan who he considered as being held for religious expression.

"In Saudi Arabia, blogger Raif Badawi is still in prison for the alleged crime of criticizing Islam through electronic means," Pence said.

"All four of these men have stood in defense of religious liberty, the exercise of their faith, despite unimaginable pressure. And the American people stand with them," Pence said.

"So today the United States of America calls upon the governments of Eritrea, Mauritania, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to respect the rights of conscience of these men and let these men go," Pence said to applause.

President Donald Trump's administration has faced anger from rival Democrats and some fellow Republicans for not doing more to punish Saudi Arabia over last year's killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a writer and US resident who was strangled and dismembered after being lured into the ultraconservative kingdom's Istanbul consulate.

Trump instead has hailed Saudi Arabia's powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and said that human rights concerns should be secondary due to the kingdom's ample purchases of US weapons and shared hostility toward Iran.

Canada, which granted Badawi's wife and three children asylum in 2013, has been particularly outspoken on his case, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling his release a top priority.

Saudi Arabia has reacted with fury to Canada's statements, last year pulling its ambassador and severing trade ties in what was widely seen as a warning to other nations.

Lashed in public

Badawi was arrested under Saudi Arabia's draconian cyber crime law and his website shut down after he blogged his criticism of the "mutawa," the religious police force that enforces the law.

Badawi had also called for peaceful assembly to mark a "day of liberalism," as well the end to the role of religion in politics.

He was sentenced to 10 years in jail and 1,000 public lashes.

He was lashed 50 times before the public in Jeddah, with witnesses remarking how he did not cry out. Authorities have repeatedly postponed the rest of his lashes.

In a letter afterward published by German weekly Der Spiegel, Badawi recalled being "surrounded by a cheering crowd who cried incessantly 'Allahu Akbar' (God is greatest)."

"All this cruel suffering... because I expressed my opinion," he wrote.

Among other cases raised by Pence, he urged Pakistan to free Junaid Hafeez, a university lecturer known for his liberal views and accused of insulting the Prophet Mohammed.

Blasphemy is an incendiary issue in Pakistan, where mere allegations of insulting Islam have sparked lynchings, although activists say many cases stem from personal disagreements.

The call to free Hafeez came days before Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan visits Washington on a trip in which he hopes to rebuild an often rocky relationship.

Raising rights with North Korea

The Trump administration has generally played down human rights other than with adversaries. But it has put a high priority on religious freedom, an important issue for Trump's evangelical Christian base.

Pence also pledged to support religious freedom in North Korea -- which advocacy groups say is perhaps the world's most repressive state, with even possession of the Bible banned.

Trump has met three times with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and voiced a fondness for him, with talks focused on ending Pyongyang's nuclear program.

"You can be confident, as President Trump continues to pursue the denuclearization of North Korea and a lasting peace, the United States will continue to stand for the freedom of religion of all people of all faiths on the Korean peninsula," Pence said.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier called China's mass incarceration of mostly Muslim Uighurs "the stain of the century" and pledged to build a standing global alliance to promote religious freedom.