US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross suggested no protesters was a sign of Saudi Arabia’s goodwill, but laws there strictly forbid any demonstrations

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross’s praise for the lack of protests during Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia has been criticized by civil rights activists who pointed out that protesting in Saudi Arabia is illegal.



Ross travelled with the US president to Saudi Arabia in the first stage of his first international tour since taking office. Speaking with CNBC on Monday morning, Ross said there was “no sign of” protesters and seemed to suggest this was a sign of the country’s goodwill towards the US.

“There was not a single hint of a protester anywhere there during the whole time we were there,” Ross said. “Not one guy with a bad placard.”

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Thousands of people are expected to protest Trump’s appearance in Brussels on Wednesday, but there was no sign of dissent in Saudi Arabia.

“There was not a single effort at any incursion, there wasn’t anything,” Ross said. “The mood was a genuinely good mood.”

But Adam Coogle, Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch, said “anyone who follows the situation in Saudi Arabia will not be surprised at all” by the lack of protesters.

“Protesting is a serious offence in Saudi Arabia. It’s been de facto criminalised for many, many years, and specifically criminalised since 2011,” Coogle said.

“The stakes for protesting are extremely high. No one wants to sit in jail for ten years because they protested Trump.”

Who is in Trump's entourage? Trump was joined by his full entourage on his first overseas trip as president. His innermost circle comprises his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, who is the president's closest foreign policy advisor. Just outside that circle is Hope Hicks, a former spokeswoman who has become a constant presence at Trump's side. Then there are the competing White House barons: chief ideologue Steve Bannon, chief of staff Reince Priebus, and national security adviser HR McMaster. Preibus and Bannon returned to Washington after the tour's first stop, in Saudi Arabia. Rex Tillerson, the secretary of state – and only cabinet secretary on the tour – and the outgoing acting assistant secretary of state, Stuart Jones, rank next in terms of access and influence. The next ring comprises Gary Cohn, the president's economic advisor; Dina Powell, the deputy national security advisor, who is Egyptian-born and speaks Arabic; Stephen Miller, a nationalist anti-immigration policy advisor; and Sean Spicer, the White House spokesman. Spicer's deputy, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is also present, as is the spokesman for the national security council, Michael Anton. It is not clear is how many national security council experts have been brought along.

A 2016 US state department report on “human rights practices” in Saudi Arabia specifically notes that the “government categorically forbids participation in political protests or unauthorized public assemblies”.



“The most important human rights problems reported included citizens’ lack of the ability and legal means to choose their government; restrictions on universal rights, such as freedom of expression, including on the internet, and the freedoms of assembly, association, movement, and religion; and pervasive gender discrimination and lack of equal rights that affected most aspects of women’s lives,” the state department wrote.

In an October 2016 report, the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner found that “children involved in demonstrations have been tried and sentenced, including to death, by the specialized criminal court” in Saudi Arabia.

The lack of protest is unlikely to set the tone for the rest of the president’s tour. Trump travels to Europe on Wednesday, where he is guaranteed to face protesters. Women’s March Rome is holding a rally against the president on Tuesday, ahead of Trump’s visit to Rome and Vatican City.

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“There is outrage regarding the illegal Muslim ban, the global gag rule on women’s health, his appalling choices in his cabinet, his appalling views on climate change, and his denigration of journalists and the free press,” said Elizabeth Farren, one of the organizers of the rally.

“We are genuinely concerned about the authoritarian tone that his administration has taken.”

A day later thousands of people are expected to attend a “Trump not welcome” march, organized by dozens of activist organizations, in Brussels.

“This protest march is directed against Trump and his billionaire cabinet,” the group’s website says.

“These past months, Trump caused outrage all over the world: dividing and excluding people, denying climate change, intimidating the media [and] phasing out solidarity. We stand united in saying ‘No!’”