RIYADH, 3 July 2006 — The United States has critically hurt the democracy and human rights agenda around the world through its treatment of Guantanamo Bay detainees and its Middle East policy, Turki Al-Sudairy, head of the Human Rights Commission, said yesterday.

He said rights abuses by US soldiers in Iraq and support for Israel crushing the Palestinian fight against occupation had ruined US credibility on rights.

Last month, two Saudis reportedly committed suicide at Guantanamo Bay prison, where around 450 militant suspects including some 90 Saudis are being held outside the jurisdiction of international law.

“People say they did not commit suicide, that they were killed ... It’s part of a bigger problem, American policy in the Middle East,” Sudairy said.

“When the Americans do what they do in Iraq, people will judge them by what they can see going on,” he said, referring to revelations about killings and abuse of prisoners.

“(Palestinian) leaders are hunted and killed one after the other, their homes and fields are destroyed, their lands are taken, new settlements are set up ... I’m sure the American people wouldn’t be happy with this if they were aware of the facts.

“There is something going on, there is a feeling among the Afro-Asian countries that the US is overdoing it,” said Sudairy, who addressed the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council last month.