Middle East Aggregator

Saudi Arabian football authorities are investigating an error that led to the Syrian national anthem being played before a match against Lebanon.

Several Lebanese players were visibly angry when the wrong anthem was played before Saturday's game, reports say.

Officials at the stadium quickly realised their mistake, and eventually played the correct national anthem before the World Cup qualifying clash.

Lebanon went on to lose the match in the Saudi capital Riyadh, 2-1.

Syrian influence in Lebanon remains one of the most divisive issues there. (BBC)

Labels: Lebanon, misc, Saudi Arabia, Syria

Saudi Arabia's king urged a gathering of Muslim scholars Wednesday to open religious dialogue with Christians and Jews. But politics intruded as a senior Iranian figure said the Islamic world should stand up to the U.S. and its "international arrogance."

King Abdullah spoke at the start of a three-day conference of Islamic scholars, clerics and other figures in the holy city of Mecca called to get Muslims on the same page before the kingdom launches a landmark initiative for talks with adherents of other monotheistic faiths.

The tone was one of reconciliation between Islam's two main branches, Sunni and Shiite. Abdullah, one of Sunni Islam's most prominent figures, entered the hall with Shiite Iranian politician Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who later sat at the king's left in a gesture of unity.

But while Rafsanjani spoke warmly of his host, he also highlighted the political divide between their nations by delivering pointed criticism of America, a Saudi ally. He accused the U.S. of greedily trying to control the region's oil and said Muslims should resist it. (AP)

Labels: Freedom of Religion, Saudi Arabia

In mid-May, President Bush travelled to the Middle East to establish his legacy more firmly in the part of the world that has been the prime focus of his presidency.

The trip had two principal destinations, each chosen to celebrate a major anniversary: Israel, the 60th anniversary of its founding and recognition by the United States, and Saudi Arabia, the 75th anniversary of US recognition of the newly founded kingdom. The choices made good sense in the light of history and the enduring character of US Middle East policy: control of oil, and support of the proxies who help maintain it.

An omission, however, was not lost on the people of the region. Though Bush celebrated the founding of Israel, he did not recognise (let alone commemorate) the paired event from 60 years ago: the destruction of Palestine, the Nakba, as Palestinians refer to the events that expelled them from their lands.

During his three days in Jerusalem, the president was an enthusiastic participant in lavish events and made sure to go to Masada, a near-sacred site of Jewish nationalism.

But he did not visit the seat of the Palestinian authority in Ramallah, or Gaza City, or a refugee camp, or the town of Qalqilya Ñ strangled by the Separation Wall, now becoming an Annexation Wall under the illegal Israeli settlement and development programmes that Bush has endorsed officially, the first president to do so. (Khaleej Times)

Labels: Iran, Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, U.S.

Threatened at home by a massive Al Quaeda infiltration at all levels of society, and intimidated by neighboring ascending Iran with its fundamentalist Shia push, - Saudi Arabia’s rulers embark on a multi-tier homeland security project to protect themselves and their oil infrastructure, creating a market of more than $115 billion over the coming decade. This prediction is part of a new market research report published on May 27 by Homeland Security Research Corp. (HSRC), titled: “Saudi Arabia Homeland Security Market – 2009-2018.”

Oil and policy experts around the world are unanimous in their opinion that a significant damage to Saudi Arabia’s oil exporting facilities or a major regime changing event in the kingdom might precipitate a debilitating economic crisis, possibly plunging the world’s economy into a deep recession, caused by a sharp increase in energy prices.

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where a vast majority of its homeland security components report directly to the royal court, and not to the ministries of Defense, Security or Interior. In the 1950s, the Kingdom dedicated about 30% of its GDP to protecting itself. Currently, the allocation for HLS is about 5%, a modest expenditure by comparison.

Over the coming decade, Saudi Arabia’s homeland security market is forecasted to be the largest after that of the U.S. The Kingdom boasts 24 separate agencies and organizations, arranged in a three-tier structure, employing more than 250,000 personnel (a number that is expected to grow by an additional 35,000 over the forecast period). (Market Watch)

Labels: Oil, Saudi Arabia

Labels: Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has sent an invitation to the World Jewish Congress for an interfaith dialogue with Muslim and Christian leaders, Haaretz has learned.
While the date and location of the meeting has not been announced, sources have told Haaretz that King Abdullah seeks to hold the meet in Saudi Arabia, no small feat as the country is ruled by Islamic Sharia law and currently does not allow the entry of holders of Israeli passports or those whose passports bear entry visas from Israel. The country also bans all non-Muslim prayer in public.
WJC President Ronald Lauder issued a statement Monday saying that "despite all the obstacles that may still be in the way, King Abdullah's initiative is a laudable step forward. We hope that other religious leaders and political leaders throughout the world will be encouraged to join."

WJC Governing Board Chair Matthew Brofmann also praised the initiative and expressed his hope that it will "spell real progress in fostering better understanding with the Muslim world," and added that the WJC "is ready to participate in any interfaith talks that are meant towards mutual respect." (Haaretz)

Labels: Freedom of Religion, Saudi Arabia

A Saudi couple forced to divorce by an Islamic court have called for more international pressure to reunite them after Saudi authorities failed to fulfill a pledge to a U.N. body to do so.

Fatima Azzaz and Mansour al-Timani were forced to separate in 2006 after her brothers persuaded judges her husband's tribal stock was not prestigious enough.

It is one of a series of cases that have drawn international criticism of human rights in Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally and the world's top oil exporter.

Yakin Erturk, the U.N.'s expert on violence against women, said during a visit to Riyadh in February that authorities had promised to allow the couple to reunite.

"Our case has not been resolved yet ... I cannot get justice in my country, the United Nations could not get me justice, I turn to Allah and to the world to ask for this injustice to be brought to an end," Timani told Reuters late on Saturday. (Reuters)

Labels: Saudi Arabia, Womens Rights

Saudi Arabia made an unprecedented contribution of $500 million to the UN World Food Program to respond to rising prices, meaning the agency won't have to cut rations to the world's needy, the United Nations announced Friday.
The contribution by the world's top oil-producing nation was by far the largest response to the UN food agency's emergency appeal for $755 million to cover increased costs that threatened crucial aid to millions of needy people.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon "warmly welcomes the offer of the landmark contribution," UN deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.
"The secretary general notes that this contribution of an unprecedented size and generosity comes not a moment too soon, given the needs of millions of people dependent on food rations," she said.

The Saudi contribution means the agency, which operates the world's largest humanitarian program, will now have the money to carry on its activities without making cuts, Okabe said.
Josette Sheeran, the agency's executive director, said donations actually topped the appeal target—reaching $960 million from 32 countries. The WFP will have $205 million for other urgent needs. (AP)

Labels: Food, Saudi Arabia, U.N.

Human Rights Watch has called on Saudi judges to overturn a decision to drop charges against a Saudi couple accused of severely abusing an Indonesian maid.

A judge in Riyadh awarded $670 damages to the maid, Nour Miyati, but dropped all charges against her employers.

The female employer, who admitted the abuse and was originally sentenced to 35 lashes, had her sentence overturned.

Human Rights Watch said the ruling on Monday was "outrageous", and sent "a dangerous message" to Saudi employers.

Ms Miyati, 25, contracted gangrene after allegedly being tied up for a month and left without food in 2005. She had to have several fingers and toes amputated.

New York-based Human Rights Watch called for an appeals court to "impose stiff penalties on the employers, including imprisonment, and payment of significant financial compensation".

Saudi officials have not commented on the report. (BBC)

Labels: Labour Rights, Migrant Rights, Saudi Arabia

An outspoken critic of the Saudi government who was previously jailed for calling for greater democracy has been arrested, his wife said Tuesday.

Matrouk al-Faleh, a professor of political science at King Saud University in Riyadh, the capital, was detained Monday after he left for work, said his wife, Jamila al-Ukla. Over the past year, Faleh has accused the Interior Ministry of disregarding laws that ban arrests without charge and guarantee the right to counsel.

An Interior Ministry spokesman was unavailable for comment on Faleh's arrest.

Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy that restricts press and speech freedoms, does not allow political parties, civil rights groups or demonstrations. But since King Abdullah took the throne in 2005, official tolerance of criticism and debate has grown.

Faleh, 55, a dissident with a long history of political activism, spent 18 months in prison and was released in August 2005 after a royal pardon.

Faleh was one of three activists, along with Ali al-Domaini and Abdullah al-Hamed, who were jailed in 2004 after calling for a constitutional monarchy and an elected parliament. They were banned from traveling outside the kingdom after their release. (Washington Post)

Labels: Free Speech, Saudi Arabia

President Bush said Saudi Arabia's small increase in oil production will not solve soaring U.S. fuel prices, but he defended the wealthy kingdom Saturday against American lawmakers "screaming the loudest" for Riyadh to open its spigots.

Bush also encountered bitter Arab criticism that he favors Israel too heavily and was bluntly questioned by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak about whether he is serious about peacemaking. Bush said he was "absolutely committed" to reaching an Israeli-Palestinian agreement by the end of his presidency next January. But there was no sign during Bush's five-day Mideast trip that the two sides are moving closer toward an accord.

"It breaks my heart to see the vast potential of the Palestinian people really wasted," Bush said. Pledging the creation of an independent homeland, Bush said "It'll be an opportunity to end the suffering that takes place in the Palestinian territories."

With Israel's occupation of Arab lands captured in the 1967 Mideast war entering its fifth decade, most Palestinians live in dire poverty. (AP)

Labels: Oil, Saudi Arabia, U.S.

U.S. President George W. Bush, visiting the Saudi capital on Friday, hoped to formalize new agreements that would give the relationship between the two countries a boost.
Among them was an agreement for the U.S. to assist the kingdom in developing civilian nuclear power. Another agreement involves U.S. promises to help protect any Saudi nuclear infrastructure with training, the exchange of experts and other support services as needed. Hadley said it would not involve U.S. troops.
But the rising price of oil commanded attention.

Saudi Arabia's leaders made clear they see no reason to increase oil production until customers demand it, apparently rebuffing Bush amid soaring U.S. gasoline prices.
It was Bush's second personal appeal this year to King Abdullah, head of the monarchy that rules this desert kingdom that is a longtime prime U.S. ally and home to the world's largest oil reserves. But Saudi officials stuck to their position that they will only pump more oil into the system when asked to by buyers, something they say is not happening now, the president's national security adviser told reporters.  (Reuters)

Labels: Nuclear Power, Oil, Saudi Arabia, U.S.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, has increased its output to meet rising demand and to compensate for declining production from other countries.

Ali al-Naimi, the Saudi oil minister, said on Friday that from May 10 the kingdom had raised supplies by 300,000 barrels per day.

Saudi Arabia's output in June will reach 9.45 million barrels per day, al-Naimi said.

The statement came hours after George Bush, the US president, arrived in Riyadh for talks with King Abdullah of Saudia Arabia.

King Abdullah led a red-carpet welcome for Bush and his wife Laura as he landed at King Khaled airport.

Before Bush arrived in Saudi Arabia, Dana Perino, White House spokeswoman, told reporters that oil supply would be on the agenda.

"We do count on the Opec (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) to keep adequate [oil] supplies out there, so the president will talk again with the king about that," Perino said. (Al Jazeera)

Labels: Oil, OPEC, Saudi Arabia, U.S.

Saudi Arabia's leaders made clear Friday they see no reason to increase oil production until customers demand it, apparently rebuffing President Bush amid soaring U.S. gasoline prices.

It was Bush's second personal appeal this year to King Abdullah, head of the monarchy that rules this desert kingdom that is a longtime prime U.S. ally and home to the world's largest oil reserves. But Saudi officials stuck to their position that they will only pump more oil into the system when asked to by buyers, something they say is not happening now, the president's national security adviser told reporters.

"Saudi Arabia does not have customers that are making requests for oil that they are not able to satisfy," Stephen Hadley said on a day when oil prices topped $127 a barrel, continuing to set records. "What the Saudis wanted to tell us was we're doing everything we can do ... to meet this problem, but it's a complicated problem."

The Saudi oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, said the kingdom decided on May 10 to raise production by 300,000 barrels, at the request of customers, and that increase was sufficient.

"Supply and demand are in balance today," he told a news conference. "How much does Saudi Arabia need to do to satisfy people who are questioning our oil practices and policies?" (AP)

Labels: Oil, Saudi Arabia, U.S.

A timeless and abstract passion, which could gain instantaneous contemporaneity and which has proven to be unfailingly useful for statecraft, was invoked in Middle Eastern politics once again this week. It is the ultimate weapon in Saudi Arabia's arsenal of regional diplomacy. It is seductive in its appeal, yet almost embarrassingly direct.
That was how, most certainly, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal would have thought when on Tuesday he warned Tehran that its support to what he termed Hezbollah's "coup" in Lebanon would affect Iran's relations with Arab and Islamic countries. The Saudi prince went on to exhort all Middle East countries to respect Lebanon's independence and to refrain from stoking "sectarian tensions" in that country.
It is extremely rare for Saudi diplomacy to blatantly use the weapon of sectarianism against Shi'ite Iran and to draw a line of divide between the Persians and the surrounding Sunni Muslim Arab world. More so as Saudi clerics are usually put to use in playing the "Shi'ite card" against Iran.
But this time around, if the intention of the vastly experienced, cosmopolitan Saudi prince was to unnerve Tehran, he failed. Tehran coolly ignored the Saudi foreign minister's warning. To make things doubly clear, Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad said dismissively the Saudi prince spoke in "anger".
Anger, we know, doesn't go well with good Muslims. Ahmadinejad then proceeded to make a startling revelation that Faisal was not following the "orders" of Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud. (Asia Times)

Labels: Iran, Saudi Arabia, U.S.

An activist from Saudi Arabia's minority Ismaili community, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, has been arrested after seeking the removal of the governor of the Ismaili stronghold of Najran, a fellow activist said on Wednesday. Security services detained Ahmad Turki al-Saab in Riyadh on Tuesday after having summoned him to the capital, Mohammed al-Askar told AFP by telephone from Riyadh. Askar said that while authorities did not explain Saab's arrest, he believes one of the reasons is that the activist put his name to a petition to King Abdullah demanding the sacking of Najran's governor, who is a member of the Saudi royal family. "Saab was one of six people who met the king on April 26 and presented the petition signed by 77 Najran notables," said Askar, who is also Ismaili. The petition featured a series of demands and called for the removal of Prince Mishaal bin Saud, who, Askar said, is suspected of encouraging the "settlement of Yemenis in Najran." "Najran residents believe that settling Sunni Yemenis in the region, which borders Yemen, is aimed at altering its demographic and sectarian composition," he said. Najran Ismailis have long complained that lands are being seized in the region and used to settle Yemeni tribesmen who are granted Saudi citizenship. Askar said the letter also urged the king to pardon 17 Ismailis serving jail terms over their involvement in unrest in Najran in 2000 as well as another Ismaili who has been jailed since 1993 for allegedly insulting the Prophet Mohammad. The Najran Ismailis are a separate branch of the sect and do not follow the Aga Khan, who heads mainstream Ismailis. Askar said that while the government estimates there are around 450,000 Ismailis in Saudi Arabia, the community's real number is closer to 700,000, the bulk of whom live in Najran. The mountainous southwestern region was controlled by Yemen until the early 1930s. (AFP)

Labels: Free Speech, Saudi Arabia

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the Saudi foreign minister's claims of Iranian support for Hezbollah's recent actions in Lebanon were made in anger.

Ahmadinejad says Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal was not following the orders of Saudi King Abdullah when he said Tuesday that Iran's support for Hezbollah's "coup" in Lebanon will affect Tehran's relations with Arab and Islamic countries.

Ahmadinejad says Iran is the only country that does not interfere in Lebanon's internal affairs.

Lebanon has suffered from almost a week of clashes between supporters of the Western-backed government and the Shiite Hezbollah opposition that have left at least 54 people dead and scores more wounded. (AP)

Labels: Iran, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia

Saudi envoy joins seaborne exodus to nearby Cyprus (AFP)

Kuwait to evacuate all nationals from Lebanon (AFP)

Labels: Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia

Representatives of seven Arab states are currently meeting to discuss how to enhance nuclear cooperation in order to set up peaceful atomic programs, according to news reports.

Experts from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen are participating in the meeting.

The delegates are discussing mechanisms for cooperation among various Arab countries for peaceful nuclear projects.

Several Arab countries have expressed their desire to set up nuclear programs with the stated aim of using nuclear energy for generating electricity, desalinating water and using the facilities for research.

However, there are concerns that these programs will be used for manufacturing nuclear weapons.

The specter of a nuclear Iran is a notion that does not sit well with Arab countries in the Middle East and it is most likely that fears of a nuclear-armed Iran are behind recent moves in these countries towards setting up nuclear programs of their own. (Media Line)

Labels: Iraq, Jordan, Nuclear Power, Saudi Arabia, Syria, U.A.E., Yemen

President Shimon Peres played down Israeli concerns at Hezbollah's move to expand its control, but said he hoped the Lebanese people would step back from the brink of civil war.
Peres called the latest round of violence a "tragedy," but classified it as an "internal split" having nothing to do with Israel.
"It's not a total surprise. We knew that Hezbollah is going to divide the country and lead it to the verge of a civil war," Peres told reporters.

"It has nothing to do with Israel. It's an internal split," Peres said. "It's a tragedy for them. It's a tragedy for all of us. And I hope that at the last moment they will save themselves from a bloody civil war."
Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged the some 400,000 Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon to stay out of the current conflict between the Western-backed government and the Iranian and Syrian-backed opposition.
Abbas also warned against attempts to drag the Palestinians into the ongoing fighting between Hezbollah and forces loyal to the government.

...... Syrian and Qatari leaders said Friday that the current crisis in Lebanon is an "internal affair," while Egypt and Saudi Arabia called for an emergency Arab foreign ministers' meeting to discuss the situation, media reports said. (DPA)

Labels: Egypt, Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria

BAE Systems is urging the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to review its abandoned investigation into the company's £43bn arms deal with Saudi Arabia.

BAE chairman Dick Olver said he wanted the SFO to seek senior legal advice on whether it could mount a successful prosecution against his company.

Mr Olver told the BBC he believed a review of files would show there was little chance of success in the case.

The SFO dropped its inquiry over fears it would threaten national security.

It abandoned its probe of the al-Yamamah deal with Saudi Arabia 18 months ago following representations from the government.

Ministers feared failure to do so would increase the risk of a terrorist outrage - because Saudi Arabia was threatening to withdraw security cooperation.

Last month, the High Court ruled it was unlawful for the SFO to abandon the case on those grounds - though the SFO has since appealed to the House of Lords. (BBC)

Labels: Saudi Arabia, U.K.

US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch, said on Monday that Iranian ally Syria represented a threat to Lebanon. (Daily Star)

Former Lebanese Minister accuses US ally Saudi Arabia for interference in Lebanon. (Daily Star)

Labels: Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, U.S.

Seven inmates died in a fire at a Saudi prison in a minority Shi'ite region, but Shi'ite opposition and government sources gave different accounts on Monday of the incident.

Rasid.com said the seven died after setting fire to mattresses inside cells to protest over conditions at the al-Ahsa prison in the Eastern Province late on Sunday.

Citing medical sources, it said dozens were hospitalized.

Saudi prisons chief Ali al-Harithy was quoted by the official news agency SPA as saying the seven died "because of a dispute between some of them".

He said three security officers and 9 other prisoners had also been taken to hospital. The identities of the dead and the reasons for their incarceration were not known.

Minority Shi'ites often complain of second-class status in Saudi Arabia, an Islamic state that applies an austere version of Sunni Islamic law. (Reuters)

Labels: Saudi Arabia

A Saudi lawyer and human rights activist who is banned from traveling abroad says he has received the International Human Rights Lawyer Award from the American Bar Association (ABA). "This award shows that there is an international monitoring of human rights work in Saudi Arabia," lawyer Abdurrahman al-Lahem said. "It values the work of a large group of activists in Saudi society who are defending human rights. I am full of hope that this group will grow larger," he added. In a letter, the ABA told Lahem that he was selected for the award, to honor his "bravery in standing up to injustice and ... [his] dedicated advocacy work." "We commend your work in upholding human rights and due process in Saudi Arabia in the face of persecution," said the letter, a copy of which was seen by AFP. But Lahem will not be able to receive the award in person during a conference held in Vienna in July unless a four-year-old travel ban imposed on him by the Saudi authorities is lifted.

He said that the award "sends a positive signal that there is a margin [of freedom] which has allowed a lawyer to be active," rather than tarnishing the kingdom's human rights record. Lahem has had a history of confrontations with the judicial authorities in Saudi Arabia. In November, his lawyer's license was revoked by a court after he objected to a ruling which penalized a female rape victim, who was later pardoned by King Abdullah after an international uproar over the case. He also spent some nine months behind bars for criticizing the judiciary while defending three reformists who were jailed for demanding a constitutional monarchy. The four were pardoned by King Abdullah in August 2005. (AFP)

Labels: Free Speech, Saudi Arabia, U.S.

The poor have been given a little more say in the International Monetary Fund (IMF)in the biggest change in voting rights since the organization was founded more than 60 years ago.
The reform on Monday reduces the power of the IMF's rich member countries to 57.93% of voting rights from 60.57%. Members had until April 28 to approve the proposal to give developing countries more heft in the institution. Inter Press Service was told that the proposal has been approved with 92.93% of the vote, comfortably more than the minimum of 85% needed for the new division of voting rights to enter into force.
Important IMF members such as Russia and Saudi Arabia voted against the proposal because it meant that their voting weight is reduced.
Developing countries have been complaining for many years that they do not have enough power within the IMF. Nor do many of them believe that the fund is really for their good. For that reason, particularly since the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, some developing countries have amassed enormous financial reserves to make sure that they will not need the IMF any more.
IMF assistance to many countries in need in the past has been given with conditions that have brought long-term damage for short-term relief. The most controversial of these were the Structural Adjustment Programs that the IMF demanded in return for rescue loans. (Asia Times)

Labels: IMF, Russia, Saudi Arabia

Roads in Saudi Arabia are among the world's most dangerous but one type of victim stands out: female teachers who are dying at alarming rates because of long commutes through the desert to reach remote schools.

The Saudi government appoints teachers to work in villages where local staff cannot fill all vacancies. But unlike their male counterparts, female teachers in this conservative Muslim country have difficulty living alone in the villages, forcing them to commute each day.

Nof al-Oneizi was so worried she would die that she wrote to education officials urging them to find her a school nearer to her home in the northern town of Jouf, rather than the one she was assigned to 108 miles away - a three-hour drive because of the bad roads. Since women are forbidden to drive, she carpooled in a van with a driver along with several other female teachers.

Her fears came true before a solution to her problem could be found: The 28-year-old English language teacher died in a horrific crash last November. Five other female teachers, their driver and four people in the car they hit also were killed.

"We were devastated," said Suad Amri, al-Oneizi's aunt. "I still have her school papers, all splattered with blood. Her mom can't look at them. She can't absorb what has happened to her daughter." (AP)

Labels: Saudi Arabia, Womens Rights

A bridge is being planned over the Red Sea to connect the Middle East with the African continent.

The proposed bridge will cost around $23 billion. Stretching 17 miles, or 28 kilometers, it will include a six-lane motorway and a four-track railway, according to AFP.

It is being proposed by Tariq Bin Laden, Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden's half brother who is a businessman in the construction industry. He has been lobbying the governments of Yemen and Djibouti, the two countries that will connect the bridge, to back the project.

Such a bridge would create a direct link between the Middle East and Africa without having to pass through Saudi Arabia or travel by sea vessel.

The bridge will facilitate African Muslims in reaching the holy city Mecca, in Saudi Arabia, for the Hajj, or annual pilgrimage.

It will also create thousands of jobs and will be built alongside two cities at either side of it.

Opponents of the project are concerned it will be built on an area prone to earthquakes and that it could damage business at Djibouti's port. (Media Line)

Labels: Construction, Saudi Arabia

Saudi Jeans is reporting that his, friend, fellow blogger, and activist, Fouad Al Farhan has been released after spending 137 days in jail. The circumstances of his release are not yet clear, and we will post an update about the situation in the event that he offers a response. Fouad was jailed for refusing to apologize for his criticizing of corruption in the Saudi Arabian government, and its policies which have led to a gross lack of freedom in its society.

- via Mahmoods Den

Labels: Free Speech, Saudi Arabia

Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has been allowed to contest a high court ruling that it acted unlawfully when it dropped a corruption inquiry into an arms deal between Saudi Arabia and the UK's BAE Systems in the 1980s and 1990s.

Judges on Thursday quashed the SFO's decision to drop the investigation, but gave the agency the go-ahead to appeal to the House of Lords, the UK's highest court.

The SFO had been investigating deals between British Aerospace Engineering and the Saudi government in which BAE was alleged to have paid millions of dollars to Saudi officials.

The investigation was dropped after Saudi Arabia threatened to stop sharing intelligence with Britain.

Earlier this month two high court judges described the government's dropping of the investigation as 'abject surrender' to Saudi threats. (Al Jazeera)

Labels: Saudi Arabia, U.K.

The Iraqi capital isn't secure enough yet for an embassy, Saudi Arabia said Wednesday, insisting its diplomatic absence there doesn't reflect a lack of support for the country.

Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal's comments following months of urging by both Iraq and the United States for the kingdom to establish an embassy.

His statement was an apparent retreat from September comments that his country would open a Baghdad embassy soon.

"There aren't any reservations at all regarding contact with the Iraqi government by Arab countries," Saud told reporters.

"The real reason why there's no embassy in Baghdad is not for political but for security reasons," said Saud. "When secure conditions are present, then embassies ... will go to Iraq."

Iraqi and U.S. officials have been pushing Baghdad's Sunni neighbors to open embassies in Iraq as a sign of support for the Shiite-dominated government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia has kept al-Maliki's government at arm's length and has criticized it as biased against Iraq's Sunni Arab minority. (AP)

Labels: Iraq, Saudi Arabia

In Riyadh, the college day begins for female students behind a locked door that will remain that way until male guardians come to collect them. Later, in a female-run business, everyone must vacate the premises so a delivery man can drop off a package. In Jeddah, a 40-year-old divorced woman cannot board a plane without the written permission of her 23-year-old son. Elsewhere, a female doctor cannot leave the house at all as her male driver fails to turn up for work. These scenes make up the daily reality for half of the Saudi Kingdom, the only country where women legally belong to men.

After more than a decade of lobbying, the New York-based group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has finally been granted access to Saudi Arabia, where it has uncovered a disturbing picture of women forced to live as children, denied basic rights and confined to a suffocating dependency on men.

Wajeha al-Huwaider, a critic of Saudi's guardian laws that force women to seek male permission for almost all aspects of their lives, is one of a growing number demanding change. "Sometimes I feel like I can't do anything; I am utterly reliant on other people, completely dependent. If you are dependent on another person, you've got nothing. That is how the men like it. They don't want us to be equals."

The House of Saud, in alliance with an extremist religious establishment which enforces the most restrictive interpretation of sharia, Islamic law, has created a legal system that treats women as minors unable to exercise authority over even trivial daily matters. (Independent)

Labels: Human Rights, Saudi Arabia, Womens Rights

Saudi women are being kept in perpetual childhood so male relatives can exercise "guardianship" over them, the Human Rights Watch group has said.

The New York-based group says Saudi women have to obtain permission from male relatives to work, travel, study, marry or even receive health care.

Their access to justice is also severely constrained, it says.

The group says the Saudi establishment sacrifices basic human rights to maintain male control over women.

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive.

Saudi clerics see the guardianship of women's honour as a key to the country's social and moral order. (BBC)

Labels: Human Rights, Human Rights Watch, Saudi Arabia, Womens Rights

A bomb suspected to have been left by Greek leftists damaged a car belonging to the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Athens early Monday, police said. Police found the remains of two gas cannisters under the car, which belongs to a Saudi Embassy employee and was parked outside the embassy in the northern Athens suburb of Halandri. A man called a private television station to claim the attack in the name of a group calling themselves "Subversive Cell." No motive was given for the attack around 1:00 a.m., police said. There are regular arson attacks against diplomatic cars and foreign car dealerships and banks. Most are blamed on far-left or anarchist groups. (AFP)

Labels: Cyprus, Saudi Arabia

A fraud office within the British government acted unlawfully in ending investigations into arms deals with Saudi Arabia, two judges have ruled.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) had called off an investigation into allegations of bribery and corruption in relations between BAE Systems, a British weapons manufacturer, and the Saudi government.

But the judges on Thursday allowed a legal challenge to go ahead by the Corner House Research Group and the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CATT), over the SFO's handling of the case.

The campaign groups say there was "very large scale bribery" of senior Saudi Arabian officials by BAE Systems over military aircraft deals, known as the Al Yamamah contracts.

BAE Systems was alleged to have held a multimillion pound (dollar) "slush" fund to buy support for contracts from Saudi officials. (Al Jazeera)

Labels: Saudi Arabia, U.K.

A U.S. war crimes court at Guantanamo reconvened on Wednesday over the case of a Saudi Arabian prisoner accused of plotting with al Qaeda to blow up ships, but the hearing was halted due to translation problems that have plagued the process.

The defendant, Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Haza al Darbi, understood the proceedings well enough to tell the judge, Army Col. James Pohl, that he believed the court in a U.S. naval base in a remote part of Cuba was illegal.

"I believe there is no international court or local court in the United States that treats detainees or accused people the same way we are treated here," al Darbi said through an Arabic-English translator.

He called the tribunal "a crime against humanity, a crime against the law and a crime that defies any kind of justice." (Reuters)

Labels: Guantanamo, Saudi Arabia, U.S.

Saudi authorities have released 32 men repatriated from the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba last year, a newspaper reported on Thursday. They were freed on bail after being questioned and undergoing "rehabilitation" sessions with Muslim clerics and other experts aimed at reintegrating them into Saudi society, the London-based Al-Hayat said. The 32 were among Guantanamo inmates repatriated last year, it said. Another 24 Saudis transferred from Guantanamo are still undergoing rehabilitation, the Saudi-owned paper added. The US has repatriated a total of 117 Saudis from the detention camp which Washington set up after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Thirteen Saudis are still held in the notorious facility, said lawyer Kateb Shammari, who represents detainees' families. Three Saudi inmates held in Guantanamo allegedly committed suicide - two in June 2006 and the third in May 2007. After the 2006 deaths, US officials stirred outrage by describing the two reported Saudi suicides and that of a Yemeni as "an act of asymmetric warfare" and "a good PR move" by terror suspects. Human rights activists in Saudi Arabia have challenged the suicide theory cited by US authorities. (AFP)

Labels: Guantanamo, Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia's religious police have been implicated in the deaths of two men and two women after a car chase near the Muslim holy city of Medina, the Arab News newspaper reported on Wednesday. Witnesses told the daily that members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice pursued the car before it overturned 20 kilometers outside the city on Tuesday.

"Commission officials were chasing the car in which the four were traveling," one unidentified witness said.

Three passengers died at the scene and the fourth died later in hospital.

The commission's chief in Medina, Fahd al-Khidr, said the allegations were baseless.

The powerful religious police enforce a strict Islamic moral code in Saudi Arabia, where women are banned from mixing with men who are not relatives. (Daily Star)

Labels: Saudi Arabia

A group of over 100 Arab rights groups and intellectuals on Tuesday condemned a Saudi religious edict calling for the death of two writers for apostasy, saying "clerics of darkness" were practicing intellectual terrorism.

Sheikh Abdul-Rahman al-Barrak, one of Saudi Arabia's most revered clerics, said in a rare religious ruling last month that two newspaper columnists should be put to death if they did not renounce their "heretical articles" in public.

The two had questioned the Sunni Muslim view in Saudi Arabia that Christians and Jews should be considered unbelievers, which Barrak said implied Muslims were free to follow other religions.

Barrak was backed by a group of 20 Saudi clerics. None of them speak for the Saudi government, which is represented by the Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdel-Aziz Al al-Sheikh.

Liberal reformers in Saudi Arabia are engaged in a battle with religious hardliners over the direction of the country, a key U.S. ally and the world's biggest oil exporter.

"All we can see in this fatwa is intellectual terrorism which sees 'Islam' as its exclusive monopoly and only sees in the 'other' blood which can be shed freely," said the statement sent to Reuters. (Reuters)

Labels: Free Speech, Saudi Arabia

Syria called on Saudi Arabia on Thursday to exercise its influence on Lebanon's pro-Western governing coalition to solve the country's political crisis, which has left it without a president since November.

Beirut's government, which is backed by countries including the United States and Saudi Arabia, has been locked in a power struggle since November 2006 with an opposition alliance backed by Syria and led by Hezbollah -- a group also sponsored by Iran.

Simmering tension between Saudi Arabia and Syria over Lebanon has boiled over in the run-up to an Arab summit that opens in Damascus on Saturday.

Lebanon and Washington's closest three Arab allies Saudi King Abdullah, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah will not attend in protest against what they consider Syrian meddling in its neighbor. (Reuters)

Labels: Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria

Saudi Arabia needs to enact a penal code to prevent abuse in its justice system, U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said in a report issued on Tuesday.

Saudi officials say a written penal code is being prepared as part of an overhaul of the judicial system ordered by King Abdullah last year, including expanding the number of courts and judges.

But the legal system, which mainly applies Islamic sharia law, does not recognize precedent.

"Saudi Arabia should urgently enact a penal code to protect all criminal suspects against arbitrary arrest," the New York-based group said in a statement announcing the publication of two reports based on a year of research and field trips.

"Criminal defendants, especially children, need greater protection against gross abuses during interrogation and unfair trials."

The reports say defendants often face prolonged solitary confinement, ill-treatment, forced confessions, and are denied a lawyer at crucial stages of interrogation and trial.

Judges often use evidence of reaching puberty as a standard for dealing with teenagers, and in 2007 Saudi Arabia executed three juvenile offenders, including a 15-year-old boy who was only 13 at the time of the crime. (Reuters)

Labels: Civil Rights, Human Rights, Saudi Arabia

In a rare departure from government practice, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah is planning to convene an interfaith conference for Muslims, Christians and Jews, according to the Saudi-owned Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper.
The call for religious dialog to include Jews is the first by the monarch, whose country's laws prohibit the importation of non-Muslim religious objects including crucifixes and stars of David.
The Saudi King said representatives of the three major monotheistic faiths need to work together "to defend humanity" from harm, speaking in an address he delivered in Riyadh on Monday. (Haaretz and AP)

Labels: Freedom of Religion, Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has said that neither King Abdullah nor Prince Saud al-Faisal, the foreign minister, will attend this week's Arab summit in Damascus amid a long-running row over Lebanon.
Egypt and Saudi Arabia accuse Syria, which wielded political and military power over its neighbour for decades, of blocking attempts to elect a president.

The summit is normally attended by the heads of state of the participating Arab countries.
However, Ahmad Qattan, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the Arab League, said on Monday that he would lead his country's delegation at the conference.

The decision to send the relatively low-ranking diplomat reflects the strained ties between Riyadh and Damascus. (Al Jazeera)

Labels: Arab Leauge, Saudi Arabia, Syria

Crude oil prices fell as the dollar strengthened and Saudi Arabia said it was working to expand production.

At one point US light sweet crude fell to $100.02 per barrel in Asian trade. It later stood at $101.65 in New York.

Commodities, including oil, have been sensitive to changes in the dollar's value and the latest rebound for the dollar has weakened oil prices.

Also Saudi Arabia said on Sunday that it is investing in oil infrastructure to help meet future demand.

Saudi Arabia has been under pressure from the US to help ease soaring oil prices.

On Saturday US Vice-President Dick Cheney met Saudi leaders in Riyadh to discuss oil prices.

On Sunday the Saudi, the Supreme Council of Petroleum and Mineral Affairs said in a statement: "The kingdom will work with OPEC countries, other producers and consuming countries towards oil market stability and to avoid the effects of harmful speculation."  (BBC)

Labels: OPEC, Saudi Arabia, U.S.