Rights Activists Hold Anti-Saudi Protest in US Capital (+Photos)
WASHINGTON (Tasnim) – Dozens of human rights activists held a protest rally outside the Saudi Arabian embassy in the US capital of Washington, DC, to condemn the systematic violations of human rights by the Al Saud dynasty in the Arab country and the Middle East region.
According to Tasnim dispatches, during the gathering on Wednesday, the protesters voiced their outrage over the Saudi government’s human right violations, ranging from its military onslaught on the defenseless people of Yemen to the torture of prisoners and the flogging of female drivers and social activists in the oil-rich kingdom.
Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are prohibited from driving.
Wearing the mask of King Salman of Saudi Arabia, a protester slammed the regime’s massacre of people in Yemen.
During the rally, which was organized by the peace group Codepink, the demonstrators carried placards saying “SAUDIS! STOP BOMBING YEMEN”, “SAUDI ARABIA KILLING THE OLD + WOMEN AND CHILDREN”, “NO DEATH PENALTY FOR DISSENT” and “WOMEN DRIVING IS NOT TERRORISM”.
Yemen's defenseless people have been under massive attacks by a coalition led by the Saudi regime for more than six months.
On March 26, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies, including the UAE, began to launch deadly airstrikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to the fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.
The protesters also called for the release of Ali al-Nimr.
Nimr, the nephew of prominent Saudi Shiite cleric Ayatollah Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, was arrested during an anti-government protest in Qatif, Eastern Province, back in 2012 when he was only 17 years old. He was later convicted of alleged criminal activities and handed down a death penalty by Saudi Arabia’s Specialized Criminal Court in May 2015.
