Saudi Arabia expels Canadian ambassador following criticism over arrests of activists

(Image credit: Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt/AFP/Getty Images)

published 6 August 2018

The official Saudi Press Agency announced on Sunday that the Canadian ambassador has 24 hours to leave the country, and Saudi Arabia has recalled its ambassador to Canada, after Canada's foreign ministry called on Saudi authorities to release jailed civil rights activists.

Saudi Arabia is also suspending new trade and investment with Canada, Reuters reports, and retains "its rights to take further action." Since May, more than a dozen women's rights activists have been arrested, including Samar Badawi on Wednesday. She is the sister of Raif Badawi, a blogger and dissident who was arrested in 2012. His wife, Ensaf Haidar, now lives in Canada, and on Friday, Canada said it was "gravely concerned" over the arrests and urged "Saudi authorities to immediately release them and all other peaceful human rights activists."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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