Tentative fresh start for Vienna’s King Abdullah Centre

The Saudi-financed King Abdullah Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (Kaiciid) in Vienna has promised to put a stronger focus on religious freedom and human rights and cultivate a more open communications culture.

The pledge followed criticism of the centre after it refused to comment on the flogging of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi earlier this year.

Kaiciid’s founding members, Saudi Arabia, Austria, Spain and the Holy See – a founding observer – reached agreement on a fresh start last month in Vienna.

While the organisation had  condemned the Charlie Hebdo murders, it refused to comment on Raif Badawi’s flogging – he was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for setting up a website advocating free speech – saying its statutes did not permit it to interfere in the internal affairs of states. Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann threatened to close the Centre, and the Greens began to hold regular weekly protest vigils outside its entrance. Saudi Arabia, the main funder, then threatened to move the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries headquarters from Vienna, where it has been since 1965, and to move Kaiciid to Geneva.

The Vatican and Spain were strongly in favour of Kaiciid staying in Vienna. Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, told Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz when he visited the Vatican at the beginning of April that the Holy See had “very deliberately” decided to be a founding member of Kaiciid, and supported its activities.