The religious apartheid kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where women must wear burqas and are not allowed to drive, where criminals are executed by having their heads hacked off in public, where they have a government agency called The Ministry for the Protection of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (just like the Taliban), where practicing Christianity is a crime and where simply being Jewish is an even bigger crime, where the imams preach jihad and hatred for the West … is asking to be granted a seat on the new UN Human Rights Council.

JEDDAH, 9 May 2006 — The Kingdom is vying today for one of the 47 seats of the newly formed United Nations Human Rights Council. Sixty-five countries have announced their candidacies for a place on the council. The election is being held by the UN General Assembly in New York.

The Saudi government launched its official bid to win a seat on the new council in a letter addressed to the Secretary-General Kofi Annan on April 23.

“Saudi Arabia has a confirmed commitment with the defense, protection and promotion of human rights. This commitment has been manifested in its performance as a member of the Commission on Human Rights. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia pursues the policy of active cooperation with international organizations in the field of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” said the letter.

UPDATE at 5/9/06 1:35:24 pm:

And in the first round of voting today, they got their wish—they’ll be joining fellow human rights abusers Russia, China, Cuba, and Pakistan: Some spoilers win seats on new UN rights council. (Hat tip: Ethel.)

Human Rights Watch sees this as “progress.”

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Five nations seen by rights groups as among the world’s worst abusers were elected along with 39 other countries to the United Nations’ new Human Rights Council in a first round of voting on Tuesday.

Russia, China, Cuba, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, identified by New York-based Human Rights Watch as unworthy of membership on the new U.N. body, were among those winning seats. …

Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth said it was inevitable some rights foes would win seats but “the important step is that we have made real progress” over the discredited Human Rights Commission, shut down in March.

“It doesn’t guarantee that the council will be a success, but it is a step in the right direction,” Roth said.