Saudi accusations against Yemen

Saudi Minister of the Interior Prince Nayef Bin Abdul Aziz has accused in a statement released on Wednesday by the Kuwaiti daily al-Rai al-Am, Sanaa of granting a Yemeni passport to Saudi opposition member Muhammad al-Masaari.

Prince Nayef added, "Frequently, the Yemeni minister of the Interior asks me questions pertaining to security, and I immediately answer them without hesitation for the interest of the security in Yemen, but he, on the other hand, granted Muhammad al-Masaari a Yemeni passport, a matter which is well-known."

Al-Masaari is the spokesman for the Human Rights Defense Committee, an Islamic society established in May 1993 by university graduates and men of religion criticizing the Saudi government, for corruption and anti-democratic practices.

Following its establishment, the society was banned and al-Masaari, a teacher in physics, resorted to Britain in April 1994 after he fled from his country to Yemen.

The said human rights society split in 1996 into two movements following disputes between al-Masaari and Saad al-Faqih, who since then leads the Islamic Movement for Reform in Saudi Arabia, stationed in London.