Human rights auction; Macron hosted Bin Salman at the Elysee Palace.
The meeting of the French President with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, who is accused of ordering the murder of a critical Saudi journalist, has been criticized by human rights groups.
French President Emmanuel Macron is scheduled to host Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman today. This meeting has been criticized by human rights groups.
International media, including the Reuters news agency, have considered Macron’s meeting with Mohammed bin Salman as part of the Western countries’ efforts to gain the support of Saudi Arabia as one of the main oil-producing countries in the midst of the war in Ukraine.
Opponents of the French government and human rights groups have criticized Macron’s decision to invite bin Salman to a dinner at the Elysee Palace. According to various evidences, Muhammad bin Salman is the person who ordered the killing of Jamal Khashoggi and his dismemberment in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
The visit of the Saudi Crown Prince to Paris will take place two weeks after Joe Biden’s meeting with Bin Salman in Riyadh. This meeting was accompanied by the reaction of Agnes Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International. “Restoring dignity to this murderous prince will be justified in France as in the US as realist politics, but in reality what prevails is begging,” he wrote on Twitter. Let’s face reality.”
France and other European countries are trying to manage the energy consequences of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. After the attack on Ukraine, Russia has stopped sending gas to Europe in response to Western countries’ sanctions and their support of Ukraine. Macron wants Saudi Arabia, as the largest oil exporter, to increase its production.
In addition, France is one of the main suppliers of weapons to Saudi Arabia, which has been widely criticized for its crimes in the Yemen war.
Since April 2014, a coalition led by Saudi Arabia has targeted the poor country of Yemen with heavy air, ground and sea attacks in order to restore power to Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, the resigned president of Yemen.
