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The full timeline of Canada and Saudi Arabia's escalating feud over jailed human rights activists
The full timeline of Canada and Saudi Arabia's escalating feud over jailed human rights activists
Sinéad Baker,Sinéad Baker,Sinéad BakerAug 9, 2018, 22:12 IST
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vs Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.Getty Images/Business Insider
A dispute between Canada and Saudi Arabia that started with a tweet has escalated to an all-out slanging match that has all but severed relations between the two countries entirely.
Saudi Arabia has cancelled flights to Canada, recalled students studying there, cut investment and issued lurid threats.
Meanwhile Canada has pledged to hold its ground, leaving the temperature nowhere to go but up.
Scroll down for a full timeline explaining how the dispute has snowballed into a full-blown crisis.
August 1: Human rights organization Amnesty International announced that the Saudi government had arrested several female activists. Lynn Maalouf, its Middle East research director, said it was a "draconian crackdown."
Maalouf said in the statement that both women had been "repeatedly targeted, harassed, and placed under travel bans for their human rights activism."
One of these women was Saudi activist Samar Badawi, the sister of Raif Badawi, who has been detained since 2012 for "insulting Islam." Raif Bawadi's wife and children were made Canadian citizens this year.
Badawi received an International Women of Courage Award in 2012 from Michelle Obama and Hilary Clinton.
In a string of 10 tweets, Saudi Arabia accused Canada of "an overt and blatant interference in the internal affairs of the Kingdom" and said its tweet broke the "most basic international norms" of diplomacy.
The same day, Saudi Arabia also announced that it was suspending "all new trade and investment transactions" with Canada.
Canada seemed taken aback by the reaction, and said in a statement they were seeking clarification from the Saudis. But Freeland said their position was non-negotiable: "We are always going to speak up for human rights, we are always going to speak up for women’s rights and that is not going to change."
Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail said Saudi Arabia was planning to withdraw all Saudi students it has been sponsoring at Canadian universities, colleges, and schools — more than 15,000 people.
Also on August 7, the Reuters news agency reported that Canada was about to ask allies including the UAE and UK for help. Neither country has done much to support the Canadians.
The US refused to back Canada in the dispute, saying both sides needed to "diplomatically resolve this together."
"Both sides need to diplomatically resolve this together. We can't do it for them, they need to resolve it together," Nauert said.
August 8: Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir warned of increased measures against Canada. "There is nothing to mediate. A mistake has been made and a mistake should be corrected," he said at a press conference.
He said the onus was on Canada to "fix" its action.
Hours later, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau refused to back down, promising to continue to defend human rights. "We will continue to stand up for Canadian values and indeed for universal values and human rights at any occasion," he told journalists.
But it isn't clear when, if at all, either nation expects to climb down from the dispute and go back to regular diplomatic relations.
