Saudi Arabia ordered the ambassador of Canada to leave in 24 hours and declared him persona non grata, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on Monday. The Ministry also added that it would freeze all new business and investment transactions with Canada and that “further action” will be taken. According to the Kingdom, the Canadian foreign minister and embassy were interfering in the case of the arrest of civil society activists and that it is an “explicit and clear interference in the internal affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and contrary to the most basic international norms and all the charters that govern relations between countries,” the Ministry said in a statement. Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Canada, Naif Bin Bandar Al Sudairi, also tweeted in support of the Kingdom’s decision, stating that Canada’s behavior was a “violation of the Kingdom’s judiciary and a breach of the principle of sovereignty.” In a tweet on Friday, Canadian foreign ministry expressed disappointment with Saudi Arabia’s actions towards the activists and called for their immediate release. “Canada is gravely concerned about additional arrests of civil society and women’s rights activists in Saudi Arabia,…
