Why is the West reluctant to criticise brutal regime?

THE evidence in the Khashoggi case indicates foul-play by the Saudis.

But as pressure grows for an explanation, why is the West so reluctant to criticise them?

With a long track record of human rights abuses, few would disagree Saudi Arabia warrants criticism.

Amnesty International has regularly reported that the kingdom inflicts punishments on its own citizens just as harsh as those meted out by Islamic State.

Saudi law enforces brutal punishments such as floggings and the amputation of hands and feet.

The death penalty is imposed for adultery, apostasy, homosexuality and sorcery. The practice of all faiths apart from puritanical Saudi Wahhabism is banned – including other forms of Islam.

While living in the Saudi kingdom I personally witnessed a public execution of an adulterer at Chopchop square, downtown Jeddah.

The event was matter-of-fact, routine, like watching a football match in the UK on a Saturday afternoon. But it was brutal, barbaric and unjustified.

And a Yemeni businessman I recently met said: “The Saudis are committing war crimes in Yemen. Women, elderly and little children are being killed by Saudi planes and bombs.”

The West refuses to strongly condemn such abuses. Simply put, the West needs oil, and the Saudis have a lot of the stuff, an estimated 18% of the world’s oil reserves.

Getting tough with the Saudis would probably result in them getting tough with the West – reducing oil production and sales of oil. Oil prices in the West, would soar, prices and inflation rise.

Many western countries, especially the US and the UK, also have lucrative arms deals with the Saudis. In the first half of 2017 British sales of military equipment to Saudi Arabia was worth more than £1.1billion.

The kingdom is also seen as a bulwark against alleged Iranian interference and expansion and provides the US with a strategic command centre in the Middle East.

And so we in the West not only turn a blind eye to “favourable” oppressive states but we also ingratiate ourselves with them.

But if Saudi Arabia is guilty of killing Khashoggi, strong condemnation and possibly punitive action should, for once, be the order of the day.