Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Dutch Foreign Minister will Visit Saudi Arabia to Prevent Sanctions

Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans (Labor) will visit Saudi Arabia in the near future in order to try to prevent it from applying sanctions against the Netherlands in reaction to PVV leader Geert Wilders distributing stickers of the Saudi flag saying that Islam is a lie, Mohammed is a criminal, the Koran is poison. Timmermans will already send a high official next week. Timmermans’ position toward Saudi Arabia is far more positive than that of Deputy Prime Minister Lodewijk Asscher, also from Labor. In its 2013 report, Amnesty International criticized the Netherlands heavily because it doesn’t make much effort for human rights activists in Saudi Arabia. It said that when the Netherlands remained silent, it seemed that it supports the repressive government rather than the human rights activists. Timmermans says that the Netherlands prefers “quiet diplomacy,” to which Amnesty answered that there is no proof at all that this works.
www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/2668/Buitenland/article/detail/3516843/2013/09/27/Nederland-zwijgt-over-Saudische-repressie.dhtml



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