British Foreign Secretary Dominic Rapp's announcement of sanctions against 49 personalities - including 20 Saudi women, including names close to the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - was not due to their involvement in serious violations; A surprising decision, especially since Rapp, when he was a human rights lawyer, took years of work to adopt a law that imposes penalties on persons involved in human rights crimes.
It was interesting that the list of the British Foreign Ministry includes Saudi figures linked to the assassination of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, given the strategic relations between London and Riyadh, but this is in line with previous statements by the Foreign Ministry in which she said that Saudi officials are behind the assassination of Khashoggi.
Perhaps this is the official British position on the assassination of Khashoggi that overshadowed the list of punishing those involved in the crime, by freezing any assets of them in Britain, and placing them on a black list, since London wants to target "people, not countries", which prompted the foreign minister in the shadow government British Lisa Landy until the government demands that it not only announce the names of the Saudi characters who have been punished, but rather out of wide and deep conclusions from its alliance with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as well.
Behavior change
and it appears that the British government knows that such sanctions will affect its relations with Saudi Arabia, when Dominique Rapp acknowledged that there is concern about the effect of the new decision on Britain's bilateral relations with countries whose citizens are subject to sanctions, but considered that "these sanctions are the correct moral answer that should Take it. "
The list of Saudi personalities mentioned in the black list is not considered final, despite the presence of names that held high positions in Saudi Arabia, such as the former adviser to the Royal Court, Saud Al-Qahtani, and Ahmed Asiri, Deputy Chief of Saudi Intelligence, where the Foreign Ministry confirmed that it is open to adding new names if their involvement is proven In human rights violations.
On this point in particular, many Saudi human rights associations based in Britain are counting that they consider this opens the door for them to present new human rights cases before the British courts.
Dominic Rap explains the targeting of the list to personalities, not states, by fear of punitive or retaliatory measures by these regimes against a specific group within their states, and therefore the goal is to change the behavior of these states by targeting their strongmen, and to curb their movement, and increases the strength of these sanctions as they come in coordination with the lists Black set by the United States.
By placing the names of Saud Al-Qahtani, Ahmed Asiri, and officers in Saudi intelligence; The British government will have sent a message to Riyadh that it rejects the path taken by the trial of these people in the Kingdom. Indeed, the British Foreign Office has almost adopted the same names that were included in the Turkish Prosecution Regulations in this case.
The British Foreign Office insists that in any grave human rights violation it will put the names of the characters most closely related to the file, and despite the legal and even diplomatic problems that may face these lists, Rapp emphasized that these sanctions are aimed at stimulating better human behavior, and in the event the government is convinced that There is a change in the human rights behavior of states, and these penalties can be reduced.
The British government is moving in this law, driven by a desire to deliver a message even to the Europeans, which says that Britain is able to move alone and punish violators of human rights after leaving the European Union, and for this it seeks to make this law succeed and show its effectiveness, as it was not previously for Britain to Such sanctions or blacklists are enacted only under the European Union.
Unprecedented pressure
Saudi human rights activist Yahya Al-Asiri believes that these sanctions "increase pressure on the Saudi authorities even from their closest allies, Britain and America," and described this situation as "unprecedented international pressure, and the Saudi authorities will not be able to withstand it."
The President of Al-Qastas for Human Rights confirms that Britain has sent a clear message that it is "not convinced or indifferent to the Saudi judiciary, which exonerated Saud Al-Qahtani and Ahmed Asiri, and Britain exceeded that innocence, insisting on its conviction."
With the approval of these sanctions, Al-Asiri considers that the Saudi authorities "will not be able to close the file, and the British decision brings to mind a European draft that was part of it, followed by a joint decision from 37 countries - including all European Union countries, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and others - followed by another decision from 24 countries." All of which insist on an international investigation into the case, rejects crime and official treatment, and also rejects other violations such as torture, arbitrary arrests and others.
The deals
, for his part, considered the human rights activist Mohammed Al-Omari that the decision is "shocking to Saudi Arabia," explaining this description of the strategic relations that unite the two countries, "but that Britain is an ally of the emergence of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which explains the absence of any rapid Saudi reaction as Russia did when it responded For this decision. "
Looking at the details of this decision, Al-Omari confirms that "the door is still open for adding other names, especially if Turkish investigations reveal new details in the Khashoggi assassination case."
Al-Omari expected that in such crises, "disputes are to be settled through major arms deals and trade deals obtained by Britain."
Al-Omari revealed that Saudi human rights organizations "are currently studying the possibility of filing cases in British courts against those involved in prison violations, as this law opens up this hope for us."