08/11/2021 Saudi Arabia (International Christian Concern) – Yesterday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and emphasized to him the need for progress on human rights in the kingdom. The two also discussed regional issues and security cooperation amidst the recent Iranian attack on a tanker in the Arabian Sea, per a State Department press release. This meeting comes shortly after Secretary Blinken met with the Saudi Deputy Defense Minister, bringing the same U.S. priorities to the table.

The continued emphasis on human rights with Saudi Arabian officials also comes at a time when the Biden administration begins to push back against U.S. allies in the Middle East known to be violators of religious freedom, such as with Turkey. Earlier this year, the Biden administration released a U.S. intelligence report that had concluded that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the leader of Saudi Arabia, had approved the operation to assassinate Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident, in 2018. Many human rights advocates celebrated the release as the beginning of accountability for the extrajudicial murder of the journalist by the Saudi government, while most likely angering Saudi leaders.

This year, Saudi Arabia has been recommended by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom to be designated as a Country of Particular Concern for religious freedom, its highest designation. The government continues to hold and abuse prisoners of conscience solely on the basis of their religion. Saudi Arabia also remains the only country in the world that forbids the construction of churches, forcing the Saudi Christian community to worship underground.

Although the Trump administration largely ignored opportunities to call out Saudi Arabia for its human rights atrocities, the recent call between Secretary Blinken and the Saudi foreign minister seems to indicate a different trajectory for the Biden administration’s posturing towards the kingdom.

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