Human Rights Watch on Thursday accused Saudi Arabia of violating international humanitarian law in Yemen, as well as intensifying arrests and trials of activists calling for reform.
“It documented 87 illegal attacks by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, killing about 1,000 civilians,” the organization said in its Global Report 2018, which reviews human rights practices in more than 90 countries.
More than a dozen Saudi activists “have been convicted on unclear charges for their peaceful activities” and are serving long prison sentences, the organization said in its report.
“The image of Mohammed bin Salman as a reformist man, with much money spent in the face of the humanitarian disaster in Yemen and the number of political activists and dissidents in Saudi prisons on false charges,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.
“Few reforms on women’s rights do not cover systematic Saudi violations,” Whitson said.
According to the Reuters news agency, the Saudi government’s communications office did not comment on the report when it contacted him.
After the rise of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the summit of power in the kingdom, he put forward a reform agenda called “Vision 2030”, which aims to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil and the application of social changes.
