Saudi Arabia and Iran both continue to persecute religious and ethnic minorities
Arch-rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran both violate the rights of religious and ethnic minorities. Victimised populations include Uighurs that are threatened with deportation to Eastern Asia, where they run the risk of being incarcerated in so-called re-education camps. Rohingyas have also been the victims of ethnic cleansing in Myanmar as well as Baha’is and other religious minorities.
Saudi and Iranian policies seem more in line with those of authoritarian and autocratic leaders who seek their legitimacy in a civilisationalism that emphasises the supremacy of one civilisation at the expense of others, rather than principles of humanitarianism.
Beyond Iran and Saudi Arabia’s overall abuse of universal human rights, recent reports highlight their failure to ensure the safety and rights of persecuted minorities — a principle that was very much emphasised during the recent commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the German death camp of Auschwitz.
“Auschwitz did not fall from the sky,” said 93-year-old historian and Auschwitz survivor Marian Turski. He argued that Auschwitz was the result of “thousands of small steps that stripped minorities of their dignity and humanity.”
The head of the Muslim World League (which for decades was one of the prime Saudi vehicles for the global promotion and funding of Sunni Muslim ultra-conservatism) Muhammad Issa was also present at the commemoration. His was designed to project that the Saudi Kingdom under Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman is a religiously tolerant country that has broken with the intolerant aspects of ultra-conservative Islam — not only in its discrimination against women, but also in its attitudes toward other faiths and minority groups.
Source: deon.pl
