Alwaght- Francois Hollande hypocritically awarded France's heights national honor to Saudi Regime's Crown Prince during Mohammed bin Nayef’s visit to Elysee Palace, an event which did not receive media coverage.
The French government was among the fiercest critics of Saudi mass executions earlier this year, describing the kingdom’s executing of 47 people, including Prominent Shiite leader Nimr, “deeply deplorable”.
Saudi Crown Prince visited Paris on Friday 4 March, the same day as Germany's Angela Merkel paid a visit to Elysee
However, while Chancellor of Germany's trip featured in a number of videos and photos posted online by the Elysee social media team, any reference or evidence of the Saudi delegation was conspicuously absent.
Paris did not confirm the event until Sunday, when officials stated that it was “common protocol” to bestow the honor on visiting dignitaries.
On the other hand, Saudi Arabia’s state-run SPA claimed that Nayef was given the honor for his “great efforts in the region and world for combating extremism and terrorism.”
The award is regarded as one of the world’s highest modern orders of merit and was founded by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802. The last recipients of the award were a group of WWII veterans.
On Sunday, Social media users vented their anger over awarding the significant medal to Riyadh.
Known for its close relations with Saudi Arabia, France has moved over the past years to deepen cooperation with Riyadh, with reports in June 2015 suggesting that the two countries sealed military deals worth up to $12 billion for the delivery of modern weaponry to the Arab kingdom.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls also signed 10 billion euros worth of contracts, mainly in the fields of transport, energy and aerospace, in his trip to Riyadh last year.
After Salman was crowned as the new king of Saudi Arabia on 23 January 2015, there are still abundant examples of human rights violations in this country.
The crisis of religious freedom in Saudi Arabia seems more serious than ever. Religious groups in eastern provinces are to some extent deprived of their human rights and are under critical situation.
Meanwhile, Saudi-led coalition aggression on Yemen is an apparent case of validation of international laws.
