Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef and UK Prime Minister David Cameron in London
The British Government has signed a secret security pact with Saudi Arabia and is now attempting to prevent its details from being made public.
Home Secretary Theresa May agreed to the so-called “memorandum of understanding” with her Saudi counter-part, Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, during a visit to the Kingdom last year.
The Home Office kept details of her trip secret at the time and did not announce that any deal had been signed.
But following a Freedom of Information request from the Liberal Democrats it has been revealed that an agreement was made and is far wider than had been assumed.
In refusing to publish details of the agreement, the Home Office has admitted it “contains information relating to the UK’s security co-operation with Saudi Arabia” and that releasing the document “would damage the UK’s bilateral relationship” with the Kingdom and potentially damage Britain’s national security.
In February, the Kingdom adopted a new anti-terrorism law that defines terrorism as words or actions deemed by the authorities to be directly or
Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef and U.S. President Obama in Washington
indirectly “disturbing” to public order or “destabilizing the security of society” as well as “seeking to disrupt national unity” or “engaging in atheism” or by calling for protests.
The Saudi Ministry of the Interior is also responsible for carrying out executions such as the threatened beheading of Ali Mohammed Baqir al-Nimr for taking part in anti-government protests and allegedly attacking security forces when he was 17. Mr Ali al-Nimr supporters claim he was tortured while detention. For Saudi Arabia, there is nothing wrong with this as the country follows the Wahhabi version of Islam, the same as ISIS does.
In an attempt to placate the Saudi’s concern over the matter and bow to their will, David Cameron has sent a personal message to King Salman bin Abdul Aziz bin Saud, while the Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond was dispatched to rush to Riyadh to apologize for the matter.
The bottom line is that Saudi money rules, not only in the U.S., but in the UK, as well.
Saudi money rules, and has ruled for a long time—not just in the UK, but in the U.S., as well.
The author, John Harding, has lived and worked in Saudi Arabia for nine years.