CFI leads the demand at the UN Human Rights Council for the freedom of Raif Badawi and Waleed Abu Al Khair. Awesome. They were supported by the US, Canada, Ireland and France when Saudi tried to stop them. Proud of Canada. And thanking our friends at CFI - like Michael De Dora. Also - apparently, the representative from Saudi Arabia, in Arabic actually told the moderator at the UN Human Rights Council: I TOLD YOU TO SHUT HER UP. (in Arabic and not translated) when CFIs Josephine Macintosh demanded the release of Raif Badawi and Waleed Abulkhair. And theres a vid! Background from blogger, Richard at Patheos The Friendly Atheist: It is the plight of these two victims of persecution (#raifbadawi and #waleedabulkhair) — guilty of nothing more than speaking their minds, believing as they wish, and seeking a way to a fairer and freer Saudi Arabia — that CFI (Centre for Inquiry) chose as their focus for its statement to the United Nations’ Human Rights Council on June 23, 2014. CFI is one of many NGOs that have “consultative status” at the UN, and we frequently speak out on issues regarding free expression and belief, and the persecution of believers and nonbelievers alike. Our chief UN representative, Michael De Dora, was recently elected president of the UN’s NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief, and works alongside our allies in the NGO community, such as the International Humanist and Ethical Union. CFI has UN representatives in New York and Geneva, where the Human Rights Council convenes. CFI planned to deliver a short and impassioned statement to the Human Rights Council, through our representative Josephine Macintosh, forcefully condemning Saudi Arabia’s persecution and imprisonment of Badawi and al-Khair, demanding that all charges against them be dropped, and that they be immediately freed. What made this doubly powerful was that Saudi Arabia has itself recently became a member of the Human Rights Council, an irony not lost on many. Brian Pellot, the human rights reporter for the Religion News Service, rightfully called their election to the Council “a disgrace.” Be that as it may, members they are, and on this particular Monday, Saudi representatives were there in the room to hear themselves be condemned for their oppression. They did not like it. You can see it transpire in a video that is becoming somewhat viral (as much as a video of a UN council meeting can be viral), as Macintosh attempts to deliver the CFI statement harshly criticizing Saudi Arabia, the Saudi representative tries on three separate occasions to silence her. Three times, the Saudi representative frantically appeals to the Council’s presiding vice president, brashly shouting over Macintosh with a sense of panic in his voice. I don’t speak Arabic, but while the real-time translation of the Saudi representative interprets him as asking for the statement to end for what sounds like procedural minutia, two native Arab speakers I know told me that his words more accurately translated to “I ask you to shut her up!”
Posted on: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 14:57:16 +0000
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