Saudi king pardons imprisoned reformers
Saudi Arabia, Politics, 8/9/2005

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz issued a pardon to five Saudi activists convicted up to nine years imprisonment. This was in the first initiative of its kind in which the king inaugurated his rule in succession of the late King Fahd.

According to a statement by the Saudi ministry of the interior quoted by the Saudi TV, the pardon covered three activists who had been calling for the creation of a constitutional monarchy in the kingdom.

The activists are Abdullah al-Hamid, Matrouk al-Faleh, and Ali al- Dumeini who were detained in March 2004 under the accusation of calling for a "constitutional monarchy, and using 'western idioms' in their request to introduce political changes in the Kingdom," together with other eight persons calling for reform.

A similar pardon was issued for their lawyer Abdul Rahman al-Lahem who was detained for criticizing the Saudi judiciary system during their trial.

Islamist activist Saeed Bin Zaer, who was sentenced to five year imprisonment under the accusation of encouraging terrorism following an interview with al-Jazeera TV in April 2004, was also release. He, at the time, compared the attacks of al-Qaida organization against civilians to the American attacks against civilians in Iraq, and Israel's attacks against Palestinian civilians.

Chairman of the non government legal organization Ibrahim al-Muqitib commended the pardon decision, and expressed his hope it will be a step towards giving hundreds of detained Saudis the right to a just trial and to legal consul, in remarks to persons detained since the attacks of May 2003.

Previous Stories:
  Saudi Arabia: no information about threats to American missions   (8/8/2005)
  Saudi opposition reject allegiance to King Abdullah   (8/4/2005)
  Saudi judiciary fixes sentences of three reformers   (7/25/2005)
  On the three Saudi reformers imprisonment   (6/22/2005)
  HRW: Saudi Arabia's reform punished for exercising free speech   (5/17/2005)

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