Who Are You Calling A Terrorist Sympathiser?

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Cameron calling out Corbyn for alleged terrorist sympathies is a case of the pot calling the kettle black, says Kawther Ayed.

In his speech at the Conservative Party conference earlier this month, David Cameron attacked newly-appointed Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, accusing him of having a ‘terrorist-sympathising’ mentality. But the description might be better applied to Cameron himself. Of course he would protest against this, but let’s have a look at a small portion of the facts, stats and history, shall we?

Who’s sympathising with whom?

First off, one of the most rights-abusing regimes in the world is the kingdom of Saudi Arabia – and everyone knows this (except one of its chief supporters, David Cameron, that is).

Earlier this year Human Rights Watch published a report on human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia. Their research showed that victims of such violation include migrant workers, women and young girls, key international actors and activists such as blogger Raif Al-Badawi, cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and his nephew Ali al-Nimr, aged only 17 at the time of his arrest.

The Saudi Arabian monarchy recently broke its own record for locking up political prisoners – more than 30,000 are currently incarcerated. Punishments designed to silence criticism include execution by beheading, crucifixion and lashing. This year alone Riyadh has sanctioned more than a hundred beheadings – reportedly more than ISIS.

Yet when questioned by Channel 4’s Jon Snow on whether he had interceded with the Saudis over the planned execution of Ali al-Nimr, Cameron admitted that he personally had done nothing to raise the issue.

The abuse of power by the Saudi regime goes beyond its own borders. Alongside Qatar and UAE, Saudi has been bombing Yemen for seven months straight, resulting in the death of 2,355 civilians by the end of September. According to the chief of the U.N. Human Rights office, almost half of these fatalities were children. This is in addition to supporting various rebel groups in the current war in Syria and also sending military forces to kill Bahraini civilians in peaceful anti-government protests that took place in 2011.

Patrick Cockburn, Middle East correspondent for the Financial Times, argues that ‘the foster parents of ISIS and the other Sunni jihadi movements in Iraq and Syria are Saudi Arabia, the Gulf monarchies and Turkey,’ adding that ‘Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former Saudi ambassador to Washington and head of Saudi intelligence from 2012 to February 2014, was doing everything he could to back the jihadi opposition [in Syria] until his dismissal.’

Furthermore, former head of MI6 Richard Dearlove also believes that the rise of ISIS was a result of ‘sustained funding’ from Saudi Arabia. So what does Cameron decide to do in response to Saudi Arabia’s record, up to and including state-sponsored terrorism?

According to leaked diplomatic cables, he has condoned secret vote-trading deals with Saudi Arabia to ensure that both Britian and Saud Arabia were re-elected to the UN human rights council (UNHRC). A competitor for joke of the century?

The Cabinet Office recently revealed the cost of all David Cameron’s trips overseas between July 2014 and March 2015, showing that the UK taxpayer spent more than £100,000 sending the prime minister to Saudi Arabia to ‘pay his respects’ following the death of King al-Saud in January. So not only condoning Saudi terrorism and oppression, but also respecting it? New lows.

Yet, someone who does speak out against such tyranny (Corbyn, duh?), is attacked for his lack of ‘respect’ for Saudi Arabia.

In addition, until recently the UK was all set to sign a contract with Saudi Arabia for the provision of prison services. It was only when Corbyn quizzed Cameron about it that the scheme was belatedly scrapped. And Corbyn’s the bad guy, really?

When newscaster Jon Snow confronted Cameron with Corbyn’s criticisms, Cameron defended Britain’s continuing close ties with the regime ‘because we receive from them important intelligence and security information that keeps us safe.’ But it doesn’t keep Yemeni, Syrian and Iraqi children safe, does it?

Beside supporting a foreign regime which may well have contributed to the formation of ISIS, on the domestic front the bad faith displayed by Cameron and Co can only have the effect of pushing (some) young people into the waiting arms of terrorist groups.

If Cameron really wants to Prevent the growing sympathy for ISIS among disaffected youth, he should stop being dishonest and come clean about the double standards inherent in UK foreign policy. 

Mr Cameron, surely you must realise that you – not Corbyn – have been supporting a reign of terror in Saudi Arabia. And please be advised that young people in East London and elsewhere are losing their tolerance for such hypocrisy.

 

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