Hey, Jack! Which way's Mecca?
Posted on 03/17/2004 9:29:21 AM PST by billorites
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia detained several prominent reformers Tuesday in a move their supporters described as a major setback to democratic change in the conservative Muslim kingdom.
An Interior Ministry source, quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency, said the men were being questioned for issuing announcements "which do not serve national unity or the cohesion of society based on Islamic Sharia law."
Sources close to the detainees said eight liberal and moderate Islamists had been taken in by police.
They included signatories of a petition to Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Abdullah, urging that a timetable for political reforms be implemented in the Gulf state, which is under growing pressure to open up its absolute monarchy.
"This will make people lose trust in the government and their promises. It contradicts 100 percent what they have been promising," said one academic with ties among the detainees.
Saudi Arabia has come under pressure from Washington to reform following the September 11, 2001, attacks carried out by mainly Saudi suicide hijackers.
The government has promised to hold municipal elections, its first concrete political reform, by October. Earlier this month its first independent human rights organization won royal approval.
It has also introduced changes to its education and religions institutions, which promote an austere version of Sunni Islam and are blamed by Western critics for creating a fertile environment for militants.
But powerful clerics in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, fear the domestic and foreign pressure to reform will also limit their influence and secularize the state.
ISLAMISTS AND LIBERALS
The detainees included former university professors Abdullah al-Hamid and Tawfiq Qussayer, described by colleagues as moderate Islamists. Hamid was one of more than 800 people who signed a letter to Prince Abdullah last month urging a timetable for political reform.
Also detained were Matrouk al-Faleh, a professor of politics at King Saud University in Riyadh and Mohammed Said Tayyib, a retired publisher. Four other liberals, including poet Ali al-Dumaini, were also being held.
"Arresting people like this -- we thought it had ended a long time ago," said one university professor. "We thought this only happened now to the terrorist suspects."
Crown Prince Abdullah has vowed that his country will press ahead with reforms but rejected any "reckless adventure," saying change will be measured and studied.
Hey, Jack! Which way's Mecca?
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