{UAH} CANADA DEFIANT IN THE FACE OF MOUNTING SAUDI BULLYING; ASKS FOR ASSISTANCE FROM UK AND ALLIES
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RIYADH/OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada on Monday refused to back down in its defense of human rights after Saudi Arabia froze new trade and investment and expelled the Canadian ambassador in retaliation for Ottawa's call to free arrested Saudi civil society activists.
In her first public response to Saudi Arabia's actions, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said, "Canada will always stand up for human rights in Canada and around the world, and women's rights are human rights."
Riyadh on Sunday recalled its ambassador from Canada and gave the Canadian ambassador 24 hours to leave. The Saudi government also banned new trade with Canada, although it was unclear if it would affect existing annual Saudi-Canadian trade of nearly $4 billion and a $13 billion defense contract.
The moves were a stern rebuke to Canada after the country on Friday expressed concern over the arrests of activists in Saudi Arabia, including prominent women's rights campaigner Samar Badawi, and called for their release.
Riyadh said that amounted to "a blatant interference in the Kingdom's domestic affairs, against basic international norms and all international protocols."
Saudi Arabia's sudden sharp response to criticism shows the limits of reforms by Saudi Arabia's 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who runs its day-to-day government. He has launched a campaign of social and economic change, but has not eased the absolute monarchy's total ban on political activism.
In recent months Saudi Arabia has lifted a ban on women driving, but it has also arrested activists, including more than a dozen high-profile campaigners for women's rights.
In the fist comments by Washington since the dispute erupted, a U.S. State Department official said the United States had asked Riyadh for details on the detention of activists.
"We continue to encourage the government of Saudi Arabia to respect due process and to publicize information on the status of legal cases," the official added.
CAUGHT OFF GUARD
On Monday, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir criticized Canada's calls to free arrested civil society activists as a position built on "misleading" information.
The moves, carried on the official Saudi Press Agency, caught diplomats in Riyadh off guard. Both the Saudi and Canadian ambassadors were away on leave at the time.
The kingdom will suspend educational exchange programs with Canada and move Saudi scholarship recipients to other countries, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya reported on Monday.
"It would be a shame for those students if they are deprived of the opportunity to study here," Freeland told reporters.
Neighbors and allies Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates said they stood with Riyadh, although they did not announce similar measures.
Saudi state airline Saudia said it was suspending flights to and from Toronto, Canada's largest city.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a loose association of the six Gulf Arab countries, the Arab League and Palestine also supported Saudi policy. But Qatar, which has been locked in a diplomatic rift with Saudi Arabia and other neighbors for over a year, said on its foreign ministry's official Twitter account that the GCC secretary general's statement did not represent its view of the situation.
LIMITS TO REFORM
Crown Prince Mohammed, as heir to the throne, is in line to become the first Saudi king from a new generation after a succession of six brothers dating to 1953. He has ambitions to diversify the economy from oil exports and ease some social restrictions. But his reforms include no changes that would liberalize a political system that allows no public dissent.
Amnesty International said the response to Canada showed that it was important Western countries not be intimidated into silence over Riyadh's treatment of dissenters.
"Instead of pursuing human rights reform, the government of Saudi Arabia has chosen to lash out with punitive measures in the face of criticism," said Samah Hadid, Amnesty International's Middle East Director of Campaigns.
Riyadh has a record of responding robustly to Western criticism under Mohammed bin Salman.
"Saudi Arabia is shooting itself in the foot. If you want to open up your country to the world, you don't start expelling ambassadors and freezing trade with countries such as Canada," said Joost Hiltermann, regional program director for the International Crisis Group.
Saudi-Canadian trade consists largely of Saudi exports of petrochemicals, plastics and other products. In 2014, the Canadian unit of U.S. weapons maker General Dynamics Corp (GD.N) won a contract worth up to $13 billion to build light-armored vehicles for Saudi Arabia, in what Ottawa said was the largest advanced manufacturing export win in Canadian history.
"We are waiting for Saudi Arabia to offer some more specifics on what they intend to do," Freeland said when asked about the arms deal.
Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi in Riyadh, Nayera Abdullah in Cairo, Katie Paul in Dubai and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Writing by Denny Thomas and Katie Paul; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and James Dalgleish
RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it had stopped all medical treatment programs in Canada and was working on the transfer of all Saudi patients from hospitals there, in an escalating row after Ottawa urged it to free rights activists.
Saudi Arabia froze new trade and investment with Canada and expelled the Canadian ambassador this week, pushing Canada to seek help from the United Arab Emirates and Britain to try to defuse the dispute.
Since rising to power in 2015, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has courted Western allies to support his reform plans, offering billions of dollars of arms sales and promising to fight radicalism in the kingdom. Hundreds of billions of dollars of investments were discussed during his trips to the United States and Europe.
The dispute with Canada has shed light on scores of political and rights activists arrested in Saudi Arabia over the last two years.
State news agency SPA said Riyadh had stopped sending patients to Canadian hospitals and "is coordinating for the transfer of all Saudi patients from Canadian hospitals ... according to directives by the leadership."
It was unclear how many Saudi patients would be affected by the decision and how many were covered by the kingdom's health care system. The government provides health care services through several government agencies for public employees.
The move follows a series of measures the kingdom has taken since the row erupted on Monday.
SCHOLARSHIPS SWITCHED
The kingdom has suspended educational exchange programs with Canada and moved Saudi scholarship recipients to other countries, while Saudi state airline Saudi said it was suspending flights to and from Toronto.
Saudi Arabia's main state wheat buying agency, the Saudi Grains Organization (SAGO), has told grains exporters it will no longer accept Canadian-origin grains in its international purchase tenders, European traders said.
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to hold a news conference in Montreal, where he will be pressed on the diplomatic crisis.
Canada is planning to seek help from Saudi Arabia's closest ally, the UAE, and Britain to defuse the dispute which looks set to damage what is a modest bilateral trade relationship worth nearly $4 billion a year. Canadian exports to Saudi Arabia totaled about $1.12 billion in 2017, or 0.2 percent of the total value of Canadian exports.
However, the row threatens to undermine Riyadh's drive to attract foreign investors, an effort hit by a series of sweeping policy initiatives by the top oil exporter's absolute rulers.
Inside Saudi Arabia, the measures were supported by a media campaign criticizing Canada's human rights record and praising the Saudi rulers' firmness in "protecting the kingdom's sovereignty."
Crown Prince Mohammed has launched a campaign of social and economic change, but has not eased the absolute monarchy's total ban on political activism.
Canada expressed concern over the arrests of activists in Saudi Arabia, including women's rights campaigner Samar Badawi, and called for their release. Riyadh said that amounted to "a blatant interference in the kingdom's domestic affairs".
Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi, Hesham Hajali in Cairo; Editing by Janet Lawrence
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada plans to seek help from the United Arab Emirates and Britain to defuse an escalating dispute with Saudi Arabia, sources said on Tuesday, but close ally the United States made clear it would not get involved.
The Saudi government on Sunday recalled its ambassador to Ottawa, barred Canada's envoy from returning and placed a ban on new trade, denouncing Canada for urging the release of jailed rights activists. Riyadh accused Ottawa on Tuesday of interfering in its internal affairs.
One well placed source said the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau - which stresses the importance of human rights - planned to reach out to the United Arab Emirates.
"The key is to work with allies and friends in the region to cool things down, which can happen quickly," said the source, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation.
Another source said Canada would also seek help from Britain. The British government on Tuesday urged the two nations to show restraint.
The United States, traditionally one of Canada's most important friends, stayed on the sidelines. U.S. President Donald Trump - who criticized Trudeau after a Group of Seven summit in June - has forged tighter ties with Riyadh.
"Both sides need to diplomatically resolve this together. We can't do it for them; they need to resolve it together," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told a briefing.
The first Canadian source said Ottawa shared the view of foreign policy experts who believe the Saudi reaction reflected internal strains inside the kingdom, where 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is trying to push through domestic reforms.
The office of Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland did not respond to requests for comment.
SPONSORED
The dispute looks set to damage what is a modest bilateral trade relationship worth nearly $4 billion a year. Canadian exports to Saudi Arabia totaled about $1.12 billion in 2017, or 0.2 percent of the total value of Canadian exports.
Canada says it does not know what will happen to a $13 billion defense contract to sell Canadian-made General Dynamics Corp armored vehicles to Saudi Arabia.
European traders said the main Saudi wheat-buying agency had told grains exporters it will no longer accept Canadian-origin wheat and barley.
Saudi Arabia has also ordered roughly 15,000 Saudis studying in Canada to leave.
Canada's previous Conservative government, which lost power to the Liberals in 2015, also had challenges with Riyadh over human rights.
Thomas Juneau, an assistant professor and Middle East expert at the University of Ottawa, said Saudi irritation at the way the General Dynamics contract was handled also helped explain Riyadh's response.
The deal was agreed in 2014 by the Conservatives, who shared the Saudi desire for deeper relations, he said. But the task of approving the export permits fell to the Liberals, who were lobbied by human rights activists to say no.
The Liberals granted the permits but showed little interest in deepening ties with Riyadh amid growing civil society and media attacks on the agreement, Juneau added.
"That for Saudi Arabia was the source of growing frustration," he said in a phone interview. "(The ambassador) was very clear in saying he was irritated by what he saw as passivity by the Canadian government, which in his view was not resisting that criticism."
The first Canadian source said Ottawa had no regrets about speaking out on human rights in Saudi Arabia. Canada's ambassador, Dennis Horak, is not in Riyadh. The source said Saudi authorities were aware Horak was due to start a new posting next month.
(This story corrects quote in seventh paragraph from State Department spokeswoman to "resolve" from "solve")
Additional reporting by William James in London, Daphne Psaledakis in Washington, Michael Hogan, Gus Trompiz and Maha El Dahan in Hamburg and Maher Chmaytelli in Dubai; Editing by Cynthia Osterman
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