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AI team asks Saudi Arabia to allow visit

DUBAI: Amnesty International has asked for permission to visit Saudi Arabia, which has attacked the group for a report alleging severe human rights violations in the Gulf Arab state.

Amnesty said in a statement that comments last week by Saudi officials emphasising the kingdom's commitment to protecting human rights and announcing plans for two human rights bodies were a step in the right direction.

"These publicly stated commitments are a step in the right direction, but they must be translated into practice. The government should allow an Amnesty International delegation to visit the country to meet members of the judiciary and officials," said the statement issued on April 6.

"The organisation is seeking clarification from the Saudi Arabian government about the newly-established human rights structures, including their terms and composition, reiterating its request for a constructive dialogue on human rights issues," it added.

Amnesty has accused the Saudi justice system of being steeped in secrecy that facilitates torture and meting out cruel punishments, including flogging and amputations.

The London-based group has called on the U.N. human rights forum, holding its annual session in Geneva through April 28, to condemn "gross and systematic" Saudi violations.

Saudi Arabia, home to two of Islam's holiest shrines, enforces strict Islamic sharia law, executing murderers, rapists and drug smugglers, often by public beheading.

The kingdom dismissed the Amnesty report as short on facts and objectivity and invited a United Nations investigator to look into its justice system.

On Saturday, Gulf Arab states issued a statement calling the Amnesty report unjustified and said the group should respect different cultures.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told a news conference that the decision to set up the two new rights bodies was not made under international pressure.

"We apply a sharia (law) that more than one billion and two hundred million people on earth believe in...so it is an unjust campaign and so long that people (in Saudi Arabia) are convinced of such a course, the kingdom would not be swayed by what others say," he said.-Reuters