Saudi Arabia expels Canadian ambassador over 'interference'

Montreal: Saudi Arabia has expelled Canada's ambassador in Riyadh over what officials are calling "an explicit and overt interference in the internal affairs" of the kingdom, state media say.

Saudi Arabia is also halting all new investment and trade transactions with Canada, the Saudi Press Agency statement added.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir. Credit: AP

The move on Sunday came after Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland tweeted on Thursday that Canada was "very alarmed" to learn Saudi authorities have arrested Samar Badawi, the sister of jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, along with prominent activist Nassima al-Sada.

"Canada stands together with the Badawi family in this difficult time, and we continue to strongly call for the release of both Raif and Samar Badawi," Freeland tweeted.

Canada's position was met with an apparent diplomatic show of force in Riyadh.

"We have been briefed by what the Canadian foreign minister and the Canadian embassy to the Kingdom released on what they named 'civil society rights activists', and we affirm that this negative and surprising attitude is an incorrect claim," the Saudi Foreign Affairs Ministry tweeted on Sunday.

Canada has transgressed against the kingdom's laws and procedures, the ministry said, adding that Ottawa has violated the kingdom's judiciary and breached its sovereignty.

"Saudi Arabia through its history has not and will not accept any form of interfering in the internal affairs of the Kingdom," the ministry tweeted.

The kingdom considers the Canadian position an attack on Saudi Arabia that "requires a firm stance to deter who attempts to undermine the sovereignty of the KSA", the statement said.

DPA