US concerned over Saudi Arabia rights record

Voicing its concern over Saudi Arabia’s human rights records, the US has said the recent mass execution of political and religious leaders shows that the Gulf kingdom is not doing enough to address the international community’s legitimate concerns.

“Carrying out mass executions I think is a prime example of a government that is not doing enough to address the legitimate concerns that have been expressed by the international community about the human rights situation inside their own country,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said on Monday.

The US has raised significant concerns about the human rights environment in Saudi Arabia, he said.

“The state department put out a report detailing the long list of concerns that the US has with Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, and certainly mass executions would rate highly in that list of concerns and we certainly would condemn,” he said.

Observing that the US does have a much stronger and more effective relationship with Saudi Arabia than with Iran, Mr Earnest added, however, that there’s no denying that Riyadh’s human rights record is significant concern for the US.

“Those are concerns that have been relayed directly by President Obama to the... two Saudi leaders that he has dealt with in his tenure as President,” he said.