In this line, he stated that the agreements signed this Wednesday with the Kingdom of Morocco are probably to provide new impetus to the multidimensional bilateral partnership, citing on this regard the agreement on air services and that on the abolition of visa for holders of diplomatic and repair passports. De la Torre said he has been self-quarantined at home since last Wednesday because he had been in close contact with the staff member who tested optimistic. De la Torre mentioned the staffer’s duties didn’t require interaction with the general public and as a substitute worked on internal matters on the consulate. Get the most recent public health updates. 1915. I walked contained in the airport, discovered an empty seat and tried to get some sleep. This is Justice in Saudi Arabia,” he writes, “He was chained and handcuffed for months inside his cell, deprived of sleep and medical assist and repeatedly interrogated all through the day and evening. While the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi contained in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October sparked worldwide outrage, far less attention has been paid to the ongoing Saudi repression at house.

However, when the crown prince got here to power, he truly began to crack down on the reformist figures, like my father and others, and while at the identical time taking their ideas, like average Islam, representing it to the West as his personal, however at the identical time cracking down on the very average voices of the kingdom that have been traditionally spearheading the marketing campaign in opposition to terrorism and extremism in Saudi Arabia. Salman Alodah was one of many dozens of religious figures, writers, journalists, academics and civic activists arrested as a part of a crackdown on dissent in 2017 overseen by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. We turn now to Salman Alodah’s son Abdullah, who joins us from Chicago. JUAN GONZÁLEZ: We flip now to look at Saudi Arabia’s ongoing crackdown on dissent. JUAN GONZÁLEZ: But now, your father, earlier than his arrest, was extremely standard. Our subsequent guest’s father has been locked up in solitary confinement in Saudi Arabia for his political activism since September of 2017. Prior to his arrest, distinguished Islamic scholar Salman Alodah had been a vocal critic of the Saudi monarchy who had referred to as for elections. He was really part of a movement demanding and asking a constitutional monarchy in Saudi Arabia.

And then the Arab Spring erupted, and my father joined the calls for a civil and peaceful transformation in Saudi Arabia toward a more open and inclusive approach in politics in Saudi Arabia. In movies, in different movies, my father chanted for political change, for social change. In 2011, he, along with other colleagues, signed a petition and referred to as the Saudi public to signal a petition asking and demanding a civil and more democratic change in Saudi Arabia. He, you already know, presented a civil discourse searching for a social change. The governor then of Riyadh, the prince then, then-Prince Salman, who’s king now, asked somebody in his office to call my father, reside, and, you already know, disagreed with him and stated, “You shouldn’t speak about corruption in Saudi Arabia.” And after that episode, the show was canceled. Not solely did he have millions of Twitter followers, he additionally had a Tv present. On Twitter alone, he had 14 million followers.

AMY GOODMAN: Abdullah, I’d like to turn to an excerpt from a video of your father, Salman Alodah, produced in 2013. The video has greater than 3 million views on YouTube. But for the previous 17 months, Salman Alodah has been silenced. A staff member at the general Consulate of Mexico in Dallas examined optimistic for coronavirus final week, Dallas Mexican Consul Francisco de la Torre instructed The Dallas Morning News on Tuesday. The consulate introduced on March 16 that it could suspend providers to most of the people in accordance with the order issued by Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins’ that banned some gatherings of fifty or more people, that means that the office was closed before the worker started exhibiting symptoms. The employees member started feeling sick on March 20 and was tested March 23. The staffer then notified the consulate on March 25 that he had examined positive. These emergency visa companies are usually obtainable for persons of Indian origin within the case of a critical scenario like loss of life or severe sickness of an immediate family member. In a current New York Times op-ed headlined “My Father Faces the Death Penalty. Now the attorney general is seeking demise penalty in opposition to him on 37 prices, including “corrupting” the Earth and “disagreeing with the ruler” and, you know, obscure and very basic charges like this, and even having books that are banned by the kingdom.