Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has wasted no time in showing his political colours, reports Rasheed Abou-Alsamh from Jeddah Barely seven days into his reign following King Fahd's death on 1 August, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah lived up to his reputation of being a reformer when he ordered on 8 August that the three jailed reformists, Ali Al-Demaini, Matrouk Al-Faleh and Abdullah Al-Hamed, along with their jailed lawyer, Abdul-Rahman Al-Lahem, be released immediately and unconditionally. He also ordered that several Libyans caught plotting his assassination in 2003 be released. Most Saudis had expected the king to eventually pardon the reformists, but it was the speed with which he did it that surprised many. "He could have waited two or three more months to free them and no one would have criticised him. But he didn't," said Khaled Al-Dukhaiyl, professor of political sociology at King Saud University in Riyadh. Adel Al-Toraifi, a political analyst in Riyadh, said he thought the king freed them so fast partly in order to establish clearly that he was now fully in charge. "He had been running the day-to-day affairs of the country since King Fahd's stroke in 1995," explained Al-Toraifi, "but his hands had always been tied. So now he's trying to telegraph the fact that he's fully in charge now." The three leading Saudi reformists were jailed in March 2004 after they had circulated several petitions calling for a constitutional monarchy, freedom of speech and reform of the judiciary. They were sentenced, 15 May 2005, to jail terms ranging from six to nine years each, following a trial that was closed to the public and to most of their relatives. They were charged with sowing dissent and disobeying the country's ruler. Al-Lahem was arrested in November 2004 for criticising the government following many outspoken appearances on the satellite television stations Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya. He had not yet been sentenced but was standing trial when he was freed. "I can't tell you how I feel; it's incredible," said Ammer Al-Faleh, son of Matruk Al-Faleh, in a telephone interview from Riyadh on the night of their release. "We knew it was coming, but we were not 100 per cent sure until we heard it officially announced on TV at 9.30pm," he explained. "The release of the three reformists was the right thing to do," said Al-Toraifi. "It will show those released that there is a new environment of change." But lawyer Bassem Alim, who had been informally providing legal advice to the reformists, was not so happy with the terms of their release. "I'm happy to hear the news, though the word 'pardon' connotes that they were guilty. And I don't think they were guilty," Alim said. "The king could have ordered a retrial of their case." Other analysts disagree, saying that the speed with which Abdullah pardoned the reformists was significant and signalled his intention to forge ahead with much needed economic and political reforms. "The fact that the pardon came so fast, just one week after Abdullah assumed the throne, is significant as it indicates the way that he will handle reform in the future," said Al-Dukhaiyl. "We should allow the king to take credit for this and move beyond the issue. Frankly speaking, talking about a constitutional monarchy was too much. We as a nation are not yet ready for that. You cannot say you are for the leadership and then demand they do things: there needs to be dialogue," explained Al-Dukhaiyl. Signs that the lengthy imprisonment of the reformists had helped soften their demands were evident in Demaini's statements to the press last week in which he said he now supported the National Dialogue Centre set up two years ago by Abdullah in Riyadh to foster change in this deeply traditional and religious kingdom where women are still not allowed to drive or vote in elections. "I used to criticise the existence of the National Dialogue Centre," Demaini told the Saudi newspaper Arab News. "But after much thinking in prison, I changed my mind and think that establishing a dialogue among Saudis is a very important step." Just days after Ali Alyami, director of the Washington-based opposition Centre for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, issued a statement calling on King Abdullah to meet again with the freed reformists, as he once did in 2003 when he was still crown prince, he did just that. In Mecca to perform umra on 12 August, the king met Demaini and Al-Faleh at his palace. The two reformists reportedly thanked the king for pardoning them. Such acts, first pardoning the reformists and then meeting them, sends a clear signal that Abdullah is serious about continuing his political and social reforms. It was he who ordered that countrywide municipal elections be held earlier this year, the first time in over 40 years. Admittedly, the electorate chose only half the seats, the other half appointed by the government. But this was a significant change for a country where anyone in power was until now either appointed to the position or born into it. The Fifth National Dialogue Conference is slated to be held in November in the southern mountain city of Abha, with the theme "The Other and Us: A Mutual National View in Dealing with the Other". Only time will tell whether King Abdullah has started a lasting dialogue on reform. Supporters of democracy, both here and abroad, will be watching closely.
