Saudi Arabia rejects objecting to police torture, as it may mean not torturing gays

Saudi Arabi, great close western ally, particularly of the US, is into torture. Most notably, torture of the LGBT. To the point of murdering them for being so, as the penalty for being gay there is death. How's that for religious freedom then?

Yet the US is it's very close ally despite these atrocities.

Now, when the UN Human Rights Council wanted the Saudi's to agree on a resolution against police torture, the Saudi's objected to said resolution. Why? Because it would mean they had to stop torturing and killing the LGBT. 

Fuckin disgusting.

At the most recent session of the U.N. Human Rights Council, Saudi Arabia objected to a resolution that condemns the use of torture by law enforcement and reaffirms the human rights of LGBT people. 

The resolution, passed during the council’s 31st session, which closed on March 24, condemns the use of torture “and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” and urges nations to prevent torture by police or during pre-trial detention. 

While the report is primarily focused on police and governmental use of torture, it briefly references the latest report by Juan Mendez, the special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, which was issued during the session. 

According to a U.N. press release, Saudi Arabia protested because Mendez’s report “included 65 references to sexual orientation and was an attempt to use the eradication of torture to promote other issues, which lacked any ground in international law.” 

In essence, the Gulf kingdom, claiming to be speaking “on behalf of a number of countries,” was concerned that objecting to police torture might also require its own government to advocate for the human rights of LGBT people. The Antimedia

I note the US and the west are close allies of the Saudi's. It appears human rights comes a poor second to oil.

Despite these well-documented violations, Saudi Arabia remains a close ally of the United States. The U.S. continues to arm the Saudi military despite repeated war crimes in Yemen. Few mainstream media sites seemed to take note of the recent crackdown on LGBT social media use, even as similar behavior by terrorist groups like Daesh (an Arabic acronym for the extremist group commonly known in the West as ISIS or ISIL) is widely condemned in the media. 

Speaking to Catherine Shakdam in January, investigative journalist Vanessa Beeley said the special treatment afforded to Saudi Arabia “exemplified America’s exceptionalism.” 

Shakdam concurred, adding: 

“Saudi Arabia’s ‘special friendship’ with the U.S. … has allowed for U.S. officials to pick and choose when to show outrage and when to denounce human rights violations, manipulating international law to the tune of their own political agendas, rather than objectively defending the rule of law.” The Antimedica

Yeah, "American exceptionalism"; in other words the US can do this as it's such an exceptional country, or some bullshit like that.