"We urge the Saudi authorities to immediately release them and all other peaceful human rights activists," Global Affairs Canada said on its Twitter feed.Riyadh said that amounted to "a blatant interference in the Kingdom’s domestic affairs, against basic international norms and all international protocols.""It is quite unfortunate to see the phrase 'immediate release' in the Canadian statement, which is a reprehensible and unacceptable use of language between sovereign states."The kingdom will suspend educational exchange programs with Canada and move Saudi scholarship recipients to other countries, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya reported on Monday. Neighbors and allies Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates said they stood with Riyadh, although they did not announce similar measures.LIMITS TO REFORMCrown 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. States with significant influence in Saudi Arabia - such as the USA, UK and France - have now remained silent for far too long," 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.In May, German magazine Der Spiegel reported that the crown prince had suspended new government contracts to German firms. Riyadh had earlier recalled its ambassador from Germany for consultations over comments the German foreign minister made about a political crisis in Lebanon. It also recalled its ambassador from Stockholm and stopped issuing business visas to Swedes in 2015 following criticism of its human rights record."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."They want to impose and carefully control reforms, because they are deadly afraid of bottom-up change, for example via women activists. But this gets them in trouble with their Western partners."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 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.Canada is gravely concerned about additional arrests of civil society and women’s rights activists in #SaudiArabia, including Samar Badawi. We urge the Saudi authorities to immediately release them and all other peaceful #humanrights activists.
— Foreign Policy CAN (@CanadaFP) August 3, 2018