‘Frankly quite stupid’: rights groups condemn Biden’s Saudi Arabia visit

Rights advocates fear Joe Biden’s decision to visit Saudi Arabia will endanger dissidents abroad and be seen by the authorities there as giving the green light to restrict civil liberties domestically.

The US president will meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, sometimes known as MBS, in an abrupt reversal of his pledges to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for its poor human rights record. Biden repeatedly promised that “human rights will be the centre of our foreign policy”.

Biden’s visit was confirmed a day after a Saudi court upheld Abdullah al-Howaiti’s death sentence for alleged crimes committed as a child, despite a royal decree ending such executions.