Supporting Saudis could be Cameron’s funeral

FROM UKIP’S DEPUTY LEADER

WITH “friends” like these, who needs enemies?

Last week flags across Britain were lowered to half-mast for a dead king in a far-flung foreign land.

So important was this former ruler across the oceans that the Prime Minister boarded a plane to attend his funeral.

You would think that this king was good and just, kind to his people and tolerant of others – but nothing could be further from the truth.

The king I am writing about is King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia – a country we claim to be an ally, but I would use the term “ally” in the loosest sense of the word.

If you scratch the surface, it becomes pretty clear that King Abdullah and the Saudis are not really people we should be associating with, never mind mourning his death.

Islamic State is the creation of Saudi Arabia and the extreme Wahhabi version of Islam practiced in its schools.

And although we can argue that ISIS is a Frankenstein’s monster that the Saudis can no longer control, the links are still there.

Many of the judges in ISIS territories are Saudis who practice strict Sharia law where methods of punishment include floggings, limb amputation and beheadings.

Wikileaks also revealed in 2010 that although the Saudis were keen to be an ally of the West and fight terrorists that threatened their position in Middle East, they were still one of the largest financial backers of Al Qaeda.

Indeed, 15 of the 19 hijackers who attacked the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, were from Saudi Arabia.

And the last thing you want to be in Saudi Arabia is Christian, gay or a woman.

If you are caught smuggling a Bible into Saudi Arabia it is punishable by death.

Moreover, 27 people were recently arrested for using their own premises as a church, which is illegal in that intolerant backward country.

Homosexuality is also illegal. Recently a Saudi man was sentenced to three years in jail and given 450 lashes for arranging to meet other men on Twitter.

In 2011 a British man was beaten and thrown in prison for six months when the religious authorities found out he was gay.

And things aren’t much better if you’re a woman. Women can’t go anywhere without a man, they can’t drive, they can’t swim and they can’t be raped, unless a man testifies on her behalf.

Adultery, also, is punishable by death.

Saudi Arabia is no functioning democracy – there are no national elections, there is no parliament, no political parties and no dissent.

In many ways it makes Zimbabwe look like a beacon of democratic principles.

In future, before we lower flags in this country for a dead king, we should know who he is and what his country stands for.

So in future, before David Cameron hops on his plane to attend a funeral, he should ask whether we actually want friends like this at all.