Canada voices concern on human rights in S.Arabia

By Adem Salvarcioglu

ANKARA (AA) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday said that his country will stay "clear and strong" on human rights issues in Saudi Arabia.

“We have been extremely active both in private and in public over many years now around our concern for human rights in Saudi Arabia, and we will continue to be clear and strong in speaking up for human rights around the world regardless of with whom,” Trudeau told reporters at the biennial Francophone summit in Armenia.

On the disappearance of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Canadian prime minister said that there is "a lot more to uncover" on the issue.

A columnist for the Washington Post, Khashoggi has not been heard from since Oct. 2, when he visited the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

“This particular case is of course of concern and we join with our allies around the world in expressing serious issues with these reports. Obviously, there’s a lot more to uncover on what happened here,” he said.

Since Khashoggi went missing, speculation has mounted that he was killed at the behest of the Saudi authorities, who have yet to provide a convincing explanation for his disappearance.