Washington describes Saudi Arabia detention of reformers as regretted
Saudi Arabia-USA, Politics, 3/18/2004

The US Department Of State has denounced the Saudi Arabian authorities detention of scores of reformers and described this operation as "regrettable."

The spokesman for the department, Adam Early, said "we are concerned to see several persons supporting in a peaceful way reforms in Saudi Arabia, detained and jailed." Early considered these detentions as constituting a "step backward " following the recent initiatives disclosed by Riyadh to expand people's participation and facilitate the formation of human rights organizations, noting that his country will discuss the matter with Saudi Arabia.

The Arab human rights organization in Paris denounced in a statement the campaign of arrest against what it had described the symbols of reforms in Saudi Arabia and called for their immediate release.

Simultaneously, the Saudi authorities released three out of the 10 reformers who were detained last Tuesday, according to a close source.

The three released men are the two university graduate Khaled al-Hamid and Adnan al-Shakhis and the activist Abdul Rabb Khamsin.

The Saudi authorities had detained the reformers to investigate them over statements they had made and Riyadh considered as not serving national unity and the social fabrics which is established on Islamic principles.

The detention acts covered prominent reformers including Abdullah al-Hamid, Matrouk al-Faleh, Tawfiq al-Qasir, Muhammad Saeed Tayeb, Khaled al-Hamid, Najib al-Khanzeiri and most of them signed December petition of 2003 which demanded the Saudi government to convert the regime into constitutional monarchy.

Those reformers were preparing a statement undermining the human rights society recently formed in Saudi Arabia and considered it as appointed by the Saudi ministry of the interior, as they had alleged.

Those reformers also extended a message to the crown prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz in which they complained against what they had described the neglect by the Saudi authorities to their request to license a human rights civil committee.

In their message, the reformer called for eliminating routine obstacles before their request and to permit them practicing their activities through what they called the Saudi people's committee for human rights.

Previous Stories:
  New American ambassador arrives in Saudi Arabia   (2/6/2004)
  Washington lifts immunity from 16 Saudis   (1/29/2004)
  Saudi crown gets a message from Bush   (12/22/2003)

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