OPINION: The Saudi Arabian oil company Aramco, 100 per cent owned by the Saudi royal family, wants to list 3 per cent of its shares, worth about $60 billion, on its stock exchange.

If successful, it would make the whole company worth up to $2 trillion, and confirm Aramco as the world's largest company.

This would be the biggest company listing ever, so we can expect a global charm offensive from investment banks and public relations consultants. They will be paid royally to talk up the deal and the 'modernisation' of Saudi Arabia that it will allegedly help fund.

In this process, KiwiSaver managers may be offered a chance to invest in Aramco. But if they have a conscience, they must refuse to participate. The reasons are painfully obvious.

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The modernisation of Saudi Arabia is a nicely spun story. It includes much hyped changes like giving women the right to drive and fly alone internationally.

But the reality is anything but. Rather than modernise the state, the royal family actual prefers it more medieval.

They have created a powerful new agency, the Presidency of State Security, which can search, seize and investigate criminal and administrative prosecutions, without judicial oversight.

In 2017 its counterterrorism law was widened to include criminalisation of free expression, with the definition of terrorism extended to those who "describe" the king or crown prince of Saudi Arabia "in any way offensive to religion or justice".

A recent report by Human Rights Watch highlights that since current ruler Mohammed Bin Salman was made crown prince in 2017, we have seen some of the most brutal and arbitrary repression in its history. Wave after wave of clerics, intellectuals, academics, businesspeople, human rights activists, writers and members of his own royal family have been arrested.

AP A Human Rights Watch report highlights that since current ruler Mohammed Bin Salman was made crown prince in 2017, we have seen some of the most brutal and arbitrary repression in its history.

Human Rights Watch points out that this era is different for the "sheer number and range of individuals targeted over a short period of time as well as the introduction of new repressive practices not seen under the previous Saudi leadership".

What happens once people are arrested makes chilling reading.

Human Rights Watch highlights torturing of women with electric shocks, whippings and sexual attacks. A recent mass execution of 37 prisoners on charges the regime said were related to terrorism involved crucifixion, a common event in Saudi Arabia.

Executions last year totalled 149, and it's on track to set a new record for beheading people in 2019. And what of the women who had lobbied for years for the much vaunted right to drive?

Eleven have been arrested. Several remain in jail, accused of serious crimes such as undermining the "security and stability" of the state.

HASSAN AMMAR/ AP They may have the cheapest oil in the world, but there is no guarantee the world will want to buy all of it.

Saudi sponsored executions occur in the west too. The regime would like us to forget the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and believe it was the action of a rogue group.

But the UN concluded in June that there was credible evidence of the ruler Mohammed Bin Salman and other senior Saudi officials being liable. The CIA concluded Bin Salman ordered the assassination.

For these reasons alone, any KiwiSaver or fund manager who buys shares in Aramco helps legitimise a government which is oppressive, brutal and cruel. There are pure investment related reasons to run a mile from Aramco too.

They may have the cheapest oil in the world, but there is no guarantee the world will want to buy all of it. That's because the more oil we burn, the warmer the world gets.

The Saudis may realise they are actually sitting on the worlds biggest stranded asset, and are trying to sell it as quickly as possible. And Aramco is a clear and obvious target in an increasingly volatile region. The recent Yemeni drone attacks on its oil processing facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais halved its production overnight.

Enemies of Saudi Arabia (and it has a few) have identified its achilles heal - Aramco, the very company the Saudis are trying to sell us a stake in.

Who wants to buy a stake in something that others are trying to literally blow up? And it's a fallacy that the money is needed to fund the modernisation of Saudi Arabia.

Aramco produced a profit of US$111b in 2018. If the royal family needs more, they can start by selling the 452 ft yacht they reputedly bought, just before announcing cuts in public spending.

SIMON DAWSON/WASHINGTON POST Saudi Arabia needs to hear that they simply don't deserve the approval that any investment in Aramco would infer.

Sadly, the history of Saudi Arabia buying tolerance and approval from the west is long standing.

Copious oil and big weapons purchases have seen many a western politician and business person sell their souls or turn a blind eye to human rights abuses. But now western investors, including KiwiSaver managers, are in a position to send a message.

Saudi Arabia needs to hear that they simply don't deserve the approval that any investment in Aramco would infer. Critics might point to other examples of wrong doing by other companies and countries who sell their wares to the west. Those actions could be just as bad, and even worse.

But two wrongs don't make a right. And on issues of fundamental human rights, the Saudi regime has been so wrong for so long. The Aramco sale is a very high profile transaction by the world's largest company, so what everyone does here is very visible and significant.

This is not just another deal. The Saudi government is seeking both cash and legitimacy via the sale of part of Aramco. They should get neither.

I believe whole heartedly in free markets and stock markets, and used to work for one of the investment banks now promoting the deal. But the Saudi regime need to hear, loud and clear, that access to western capital markets is earned, not bought.

Aramco shares are as black as the oil it extracts, and stained with blood. KiwiSaver managers must avoid them, and help send a clear message to Saudi Arabia that, however bankrupt the morals of their regime, ours aren't for sale.

Sam Stubbs is founder of not-for-profit KiwiSaver fund Simplicity