Over 50 Members of Congress have signed a letter to President Obama urging him to end business as usual with Saudi Arabia’s repressive government and stand up for human rights. For too long, the U.S. has prioritized politics and oil over basic freedom in its alliance with Saudi Arabia’s monarchy. The effort has been led by U.S. Representatives Trent Franks, Jim McGovern, Frank Wolf, and Jackie Speier.
The Franks-McGovern-Wolf-Speier congressional letter urges President Obama to:
- Seek a meeting with women activists in Saudi Arabia who are challenging the country’s ban on women drivers.
- Seek a meeting with family members of prominent peaceful human rights advocates who are imprisoned.
- Urge King Abdullah to make specific human rights reforms: religious freedom, lifting bans on freedom of association, ending torture, reforming laws that criminalize peaceful dissent, and stopping repression of women and religious minorities.
Diverse and noteworthy organizations are backing the effort — christian religious freedom organizations, US women’s rights groups, human rights advocates, and more:
Sunjeev Bery 