Saudi energy minister reveals Kingdom’s ambitious electricity plans

Arab News

October 12, 2017

Riyadh, Oct 12: Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid Al-Falih says that Saudi Arabia plans to supply electricity to Ethiopia through its privatization programs.

During his inauguration of the Saudi Electricity Forum at the Faisaliah Hotel in Riyadh on Tuesday, Al-Falih explained that the Kingdom plans to supply electricity to Ethiopia through its grid in Egypt some time in the next three years. He added that, through its planned grid in Turkey, the Kingdom would also have the opportunity to supply power to European countries in the future.

Power grids in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have been interconnected since 2011, Al-Falih pointed out. The Gulf Cooperation Council Countries Interconnection Grid (GCCIG) has a total capacity of 1,200 megawatts (MW) and links Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman.

Saudi’s interconnection with Egypt will generate 3,000 megawatts in 2020, Al-Falih claimed.

He also confirmed that the Kingdom will use atomic energy to generate electricity for the first time in a bid to boost the national economy and to ensure a competitive energy sector.

Addressing the forum later, Maher bin Abdullah Al-Odan, CEO of the Atomic Energy Sector of the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KA-CARE), said work is already underway to identify suitable sites for two nuclear reactors in the Kingdom to generate between 2,500 and 3,000 MW.

The setting-up of the reactors falls within the framework of a memorandum of understanding between the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) and KA-CARE. Al-Odan revealed that 40 Saudi engineers will be sent to Korea for relevant training.

In a further boost for Saudi Arabia’s energy sector, Italian technical consulting and engineering company CESI SpA and GCC Electrical Testing Laboratory (GCC Lab) signed a term sheet for the development and operation of a state-of-the-art electrical testing facility in the Kingdom.

GCC Lab CEO Saleh Al-Amri called the partnership a “significant step in the line with Saudi Vision 2030.”

He added that it would “contribute significantly toward … enhancing energy efficiency.”

Topics to be discussed at the three-day forum include Policies and Plans for the Electricity Sector; Investment Opportunities and Localization of Industries and Technologies; Electricity System Efficiency; Development of Electricity Market and Electricity Interconnection; Electricity Sector Privatization; and Atomic and Renewable Energy.

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UN condemns Israeli regime’s ‘organized torture’ against Palestinians

News Network

November 30,2025

The United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) has condemned the Israeli regime for enforcing a policy of “organized torture” against Palestinians.

In a report published on Friday, CAT stated that the occupying regime enforces a deliberate policy of “organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment” against Palestinian abductees, particularly since October 7, 2023, when Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza.

The committee expressed “deep concern over repeated severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, water-boarding, use of prolonged stress positions [and] sexual violence” inflicted on Palestinians.

Palestinian prisoners were degraded by “being made to act like animals or being urinated on,” systematically denied medical care, and subjected to excessive restraints, “in some cases resulting in amputation,” the report added.

CAT also condemned the routine application of “unlawful combatants law” to justify the prolonged detention without trial of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children.

More than 10,000 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently held in Israeli prisons, according to Palestinian and international human rights groups, with 3,474 Palestinians in “administrative detention,” meaning they are imprisoned without trial for indefinite periods.

The report highlighted the “high proportion of children who are currently detained without charge or on remand,” noting that while Israel sets the age of criminal responsibility at 12, even younger children have been abducted.

Children designated as security prisoners face severe restrictions on family contact, may be subjected to solitary confinement, and are denied access to education, in clear violation of international law.

The committee further suggested that Israel’s policies across the Occupied Territories constitute collective torture against the Palestinian population.

“A range of policies adopted by Israel in the course of its continued unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading living conditions for the Palestinian population,” the report said.

On Thursday, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas condemned the systematic killing and torture of Palestinian abductees in Israeli prisons, urging international action to halt these abuses.

Citing human rights data, Hamas stated that 94 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli prisons since the start of Tel Aviv’s genocidal war on Gaza.

“This reflects an organized criminal approach that has turned these prisons into direct killing grounds to eliminate our people,” the resistance movement said.

Hamas called on the international community, the UN, and human rights organizations to immediately pressure Israel to end crimes against prisoners and uphold their rights as guaranteed by all international conventions and norms.

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