Saudi authorities release one reformer

Saudi Arabia's authorities yesterday releaed the Saudi reformer Muhammad Saeed al-Tayeb. His wife Faeqa Bader said in a telephone call from Jeddah "they released him and he returned back home since one hour."

The Saudi authorities had also released two Saudi reformers who were detained with other four since March 16 and this was without vowing to stop their reform- related activities. They are Tawfiq al-Qasir and Sheikh Suleiman a;-Rashoudi.

However, a source close to the reformers stressed yesterday that one of the released men was summoned again for investigations by the security council. Those reformers were among 116 activists who signed a petition they had addressed in December 2003 to senior officials in the Kingdom, in which they called for converting Saudi Arabia to a constitutional monarchy.