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RCMP officials are negotiating with their counterparts in Saudi Arabia to provide training in “investigative techniques,” Postmedia News has learned.

While such a deal could bolster international cooperation and the fight against terrorism, some observers question whether Canada’s national police force should be providing support to the oil-rich kingdom, whose human-rights record has long been criticized.

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“Unless they’re going in to revolutionize Saudi police, it’s hard to imagine they’ll do anything good,” said Toby Jones, a professor of Middle East history at Rutgers University in New Jersey. “The Saudis have a terrible record on human rights and police brutality.”

Amnesty International’s 2012 report on Saudi Arabia said planned demonstrations were “ruthlessly suppressed.”

“Cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments, particularly flogging, continued to be imposed and carried out. Women and girls faced severe discrimination in law and practice, as well as violence,” the report said.