Exciting news! Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo just announced that she is boycotting the Saudi G20 mayor’s meeting.
We need to increase the pressure on London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
Mayor Khan’s office has already told the media that he will not be attending the G20. But he is still sending an observer, and unlike other mayors, he has stayed silent on the Saudi dictatorship's human rights crimes.
TAKE ACTION: Please email the London Mayor and his team. You can send a group email to the following addresses:
mayor@london.gov.uk, Sadiq.Khan@london.gov.uk, David.Bellamy@london.gov.uk, Nick.Bowes@london.gov.uk, Patrick.Hennessy@london.gov.uk, Leah.Kreitzman@london.gov.uk, Jack.Stenner@london.gov.uk, Theo.Blackwell@london.gov.uk
And here’s a sample message you can copy and send:
Dear Mayor Khan, please withdraw your office from the Saudi G20 “Urban 20.” Saudi Arabia's brutal dictatorship shouldn't receive your support. The Urban 20 event is on the same day as Jamal Khashoggi's murder, and Saudi dictator Mohammed bin Salman continues to imprison leading women’s rights activists and political reformers. Please publicly condemn the Saudi monarchy’s human rights crimes, and please do not send anyone to attend the Saudi G20.
Thank you for taking action. Together, we are going to stop Saudi Arabia's dictator and his human rights crimes.
Sincerely,
Sunjeev Bery, Freedom Forward
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P.S. Here's the full article on the Paris Mayor. I translated it from French to English using Google Translate:
"Anne Hidalgo boycotts the summit of major G20 cities in Saudi Arabia"
By Charlotte Robinet, September 29, 2020
Like Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York, the mayor of Paris will not participate in the conference of mayors of the Urban G20 which was to be held from Wednesday from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Anne Hidalgo has also decided to boycott this event which should in principle welcome the mayors of major cities around the world, including London, Berlin, Rome and Madrid, for three days. The U-20 conference is being organized within the framework of the G20 summit, scheduled for Saudi Arabia next November.
"The mayor of Paris will not participate in this conference which was to take place virtually by videoconference", confirms in the entourage of Anne Hidalgo. "She cannot consider doing so while Arabia is keeping Loujain Al-Hathloul in detention who was made honorary citizen of the city of Paris in 2019".
The 30-year-old Saudi woman was arrested in May 2018 and remains imprisoned in her country of origin for her fight for human rights, and in particular for the protection of women victims of domestic violence. In June 2019, her sister, Lina Al-Hathloul, came to symbolically receive this Honorary Citizenship of Paris from the hands of Patrick Klugman, deputy mayor for international relations, in the presence of the associations Amnesty International and MAG young LGBT people.
Beyond the situation of this young activist, a global coalition of human rights groups last week called on the mayors of nine cities around the world to boycott the Urban G20, on the grounds that the date coincides with the second anniversary of the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi on October 2018.
"The Saudi government is an unfit and inappropriate host for the 2020 G20 summit and the Urban 20 convocation," reads letter signed by more than a dozen organizations, including Geneva-based rights group MENA and the London-based ALQST. "The mayor of Paris is totally in tune with the content of this letter, she warned the organizers that she would not participate in the conference", continues the entourage of Anne Hidalgo.