In 1980, Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic relations with Britain because there was a film shown on one of the British channels about a princess who wanted to marry a commoner and she was beheaded. In just last summer, when a Canadian foreign minister criticized the detention of women activists, what did Saudi Arabia do? They kicked out the Canadian ambassador. And Germany criticized Saudi Arabia when it tried to destabilize Lebanon. What happened? They canceled all the armed sales with Germany. We're not asking every British citizen in this hold to care about the plight of Saudi detainees. But it is in the interest of the British people not to have unconditional support for a regime like Saudi Arabia.
In this week's episode of the Sunday debate we go back to 2019. In the aftermath of journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul we brought together leading experts to debate how the West should respond to the abrasive crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman.
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