President Obama Faulted for Making Show of Rights Award but Not Speaking to King

President Barack Obama’s presenting of a rights award to Dr. Maha Al-Muneef in Riyadh on Saturday before flying home to the US did nothing to assuage the disappointment of rights groups who noted that the President failed to raise any human rights issues during his conversation with King Abdullah. Rights activists appeared annoyed with the excuse quoted by news agencies citing an unnamed “senior US official” who said the President “ran out of time.” Others suggested that the president needed all the time he could get with the King in order to smooth over the ruffled feathers remaining from the Saudi disappointment at Washington’s failure to support the Gulf States in their call to attack Syria after it used chemical weapons; and more recently, its positions on the Iranian nuclear program.