Newsweek:

Last year represented the worst in recent memory for the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia, according to a watchdog that tracks abuses in the totalitarian kingdom.

The Berlin-based European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights released its 2019 report on Tuesday, detailing what it called "a downward trend" for human rights "that shows no signs of stopping."

A key reason for this is the continued support of the Saudi royal family by the U.S. and its Western allies. These relationships offer the Saudi government cover to suppress and kill dissidents at home and abroad, the ESOHR claimed.

"Saudi Arabia has seen a destruction, crushing and extirpation" of its political sphere, independent judiciary and free press in recent years, the report alleged. Power has been accumulated around 84-year-old King Salman, and particularly his son and heir Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known colloquially as MBS.

Abroad, the Saudi government has continued its war against Houthi rebels in Yemen, support for jihadist rebel factions fighting in Syria, and the campaign against dissidents that claimed the life of Washington Post columnist and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi.

"It has become clear that Saudi Arabia is being given cover by its political allies in both the U.S. and several European countries, which benefit from the economic revenue" of the relationship, the ESOHR report read.

Successive U.S. governments had received billions of dollars from selling American weapons to Saudi Arabia, some of which have been used to commit war crimes in Yemen. President Donald Trump has celebrated this relationship, even displaying a poster detailing Saudi arms sales when hosting MBS at the White House

"Thanks to these allies, who do not prioritize serious promotion of human rights, Saudi Arabia is able to engage in violations and crimes against humanity while some of these countries even participate in and drive such abuses, as for example in U.S. support for the war in Yemen," the report said.

As well as American weapons, Saudi forces have also used U.S. intelligence and refuelling aircraft in their war against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. The civil war there began in 2015, with the Saudi government and its United Arab Emirates allies throwing their weight behind deposed President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi in 2017.

U.S. refuelling aircraft stopped supporting Saudi airstrikes in 2018 at Riyah's request following Khashoggi's murder. Germany placed a temporary halt on Saudi arms exports after the killing, but other nations like France, Sweden, the U.K. and Spain refused to do so.

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