Lawmakers urge Obama to press Saudi king on human, religious rights during visit

President Obama, left, and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah.AP

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are pressing President Obama to raise the issue of human and religious rights during his face-to-face meeting Friday with Saudi Arabias King Abdullah.

The latest appeal came from Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who wrote Obama a letter expressing concern over Saudi Arabias systematic, ongoing and egregious infringements against what he called basic religious freedoms.

Rubio also urged the president to push for the release of religious prisoners and to end persecution of individuals charged with apostasy, blasphemy and sorcery.

In May 2013, Saudi religious police announced they had arrested more than 200 people during the prior year on charges of sorcery, Rubio said.

High school textbooks in Saudi Arabia contain highly inflammatory passages that dehumanize or call for violence against non-Wahhabi religious groups such as Christians, Jews, Hindus, Shiites and Sufis, the senator added.

In his letter, Rubio praised Joseph Westphal, the U.S. ambassador-designate, who told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he will work with Saudi authorities on human rights and religious tolerance issues. Sustained interventions at the highest-levels of the U.S. government are required to make progress on this issue with our Saudi partners, Rubio wrote. I hope you can state such an engagement with the Saudi leadership during your meetings in Riyadh this week.

The president will be navigating choppy waters during his meeting with the Saudi king on Friday. Not only will he be there to ease Saudi concerns that he has neglected the old U.S. ally but hell also have to keep pressure on the Middle Eastern country to address its human rights violations.

The Friday meeting marks Obamas first trip to the oil-rich country since 2009.

On Tuesday, 52 bipartisan members of Congress and more than a dozen non-governmental organizations sent Obama their own letter asking him to confront Saudi leaders on serious human rights violations.

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Lawmakers urge Obama to press Saudi king on human, religious rights during visit