Blog Critic
HTML Snippet
RSS Add-Me
HTML Snippet
Saudi reformist accused of inciting sit-in 'freed'
posted Monday, 23 July 2007
AFP
July 23, 2007
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Saudi reformist Abdullah Al Hamed was released Monday, four days after he was arrested and accused of inciting a women's sit-in in the ultra-conservative kingdom, a fellow activist said.
Hamed and his brother Issa, who was detained with him Thursday, were freed on the condition that they report to the authorities if summoned, Mohammad Bin Hudeijan Al Harbi said by telephone from Riyadh.
Hamed, who spent 17 months in jail along with two other reformists before being pardoned by King Abdullah in August 2005, could not be immediately reached for comment.
Saudi security forces arrested the Hamed brothers and five women in Buraida in the Al Qassim region, some 320 kilometers (200 miles) north of the capital.
The authorities linked the arrests to an arms find.
Four of the women were released the same day and the fifth Sunday.
They were among a group of women who staged a sit-in in Buraida July 16 to demand that their husbands or brothers, held on suspicion of involvement in a wave of violence that began in Saudi Arabia in May 2003, either receive a public trial or be released.
The interior ministry said that weapons and ammunition were found in the house of one of the five women arrested, and that Hamed and his brother were detained outside for trying to break through a security cordon and refusing to be questioned.
Harbi said that during his arrest, Hamed and his brother were accused of breaking through the security cordon and inciting the women to stage a sit-in.
Hamed denied both charges, but said that he "blesses the peaceful action of organizing a sit-in, as well as all peaceful steps taken to achieve rights and uphold human rights," Harbi said.
Public protests are banned in Saudi Arabia.
Matruk Al Faleh, who was jailed for 17 months with Hamed after demanding a constitutional monarchy, said Sunday he feared Hamed had been targeted because of his pro-reform activities.
July 23, 2007
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Saudi reformist Abdullah Al Hamed was released Monday, four days after he was arrested and accused of inciting a women's sit-in in the ultra-conservative kingdom, a fellow activist said.
Hamed and his brother Issa, who was detained with him Thursday, were freed on the condition that they report to the authorities if summoned, Mohammad Bin Hudeijan Al Harbi said by telephone from Riyadh.
Hamed, who spent 17 months in jail along with two other reformists before being pardoned by King Abdullah in August 2005, could not be immediately reached for comment.
Saudi security forces arrested the Hamed brothers and five women in Buraida in the Al Qassim region, some 320 kilometers (200 miles) north of the capital.
The authorities linked the arrests to an arms find.
Four of the women were released the same day and the fifth Sunday.
They were among a group of women who staged a sit-in in Buraida July 16 to demand that their husbands or brothers, held on suspicion of involvement in a wave of violence that began in Saudi Arabia in May 2003, either receive a public trial or be released.
The interior ministry said that weapons and ammunition were found in the house of one of the five women arrested, and that Hamed and his brother were detained outside for trying to break through a security cordon and refusing to be questioned.
Harbi said that during his arrest, Hamed and his brother were accused of breaking through the security cordon and inciting the women to stage a sit-in.
Hamed denied both charges, but said that he "blesses the peaceful action of organizing a sit-in, as well as all peaceful steps taken to achieve rights and uphold human rights," Harbi said.
Public protests are banned in Saudi Arabia.
Matruk Al Faleh, who was jailed for 17 months with Hamed after demanding a constitutional monarchy, said Sunday he feared Hamed had been targeted because of his pro-reform activities.
comments