Common Dreams reports
Speaking to CNBC on Monday [May 22], [Commerce Secretary Wilbur] Ross, who accompanied Trump on the weekend trip to Riyadh, said he found it "fascinating" that he did not see "a single hint of a protester anywhere there during the whole time we were there. Not one guy with a bad placard".
[...] Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in the Center for Middle East Policy, told CNBC afterwards that Saudi Arabia is among the "most repressive" of free speech in the Middle East, adding: "Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy which forbids any political protest or any manifestation of dissent. It is also a police state that beheads opponents."
In Why Were the Saudi Streets So Quiet?, also via Common Dreams, Medea Benjamin adds:
Protest is illegal in the kingdom. It's also against the law to "distort the reputation of the kingdom" or "break allegiance with the ruler". A 2014 anti-terrorism law treats virtually all free expression as acts of terrorism, including "calling for atheist thought"; "contacting groups or individuals opposed to the Kingdom"; and "seeking to disrupt national unity" by calling for protests. People who dare dissent are publicly flogged, tortured in prison, and sometimes publicly beheaded.
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(Score: 4, Insightful) by davester666 on Monday May 29 2017, @09:18AM (1 child)
I think once Mr. Tiny Hands was elected, he was surprised to find out he still needed other people not under his control to agree with him to accomplish things.
(Score: 1) by John Miller on Wednesday May 31 2017, @01:45PM
Millions of illegals and dead people voted fraudulently in the election. The majority of real Americans voted for Donald J. Trump. The majority of real Americans are very happy with what President Trump is doing to make America great again.
I know him and I can tell you his hands are not so short. Those hands can hit a golf ball 285 yards. Nobody has ever hit his hands. He has never heard of this. If they are small, something else must be small. I guarantee you there is no problem. I guarantee you.