Saudi Arabia was the scene of violent terrorist attacks and the jailing of reformers, writes Rasheed Abou-Alsamh from Riyadh Few in Saudi Arabia will look on the passing of 2004 with regret. It was a year of bloody attacks against foreigners and government installations in the kingdom, and one in which the political reform movement suffered its greatest setback when 10 Saudi reformers were imprisoned. But it wasn't all bad news. The government moved forward on its promise to hold nationwide municipal elections. There was a voter registration drive in the Riyadh region, and the country's first officially recognised human rights association was formed. And at least some of Saudi's Al-Qaeda terror network was eliminated by Saudi security forces. The year began with a gun battle on 29 January when Saudi security forces raided a suspected militant hideout in Riyadh. Five policemen were killed. On 10 March ten leading Saudi reformists were arrested in Riyadh after signing and sending a petition to the de facto ruler Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz calling for a constitutional monarchy and an independent judiciary. All except three reformists, Ali Al-Demaini, Matruk Al-Faleh and Abdullah Al-Hamed, were subsequently released after signing undertakings not to publicly call for reform. Ironically, it was also in March that the country's first human rights group was formed by Saudi intellectuals, writers and academics. Called the National Human Rights Association, it claims to be independent, but the fact that the government has approved it leaves many doubting effectiveness. A string of terrorist attacks began on 21 April when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a government building in Riyadh. Five people were killed, including two senior police officers and an 11-year-old girl. The Al-Haramain Brigades, an Islamic militant group, claimed responsibility. On 1 May Saudi gunmen, some reportedly wearing uniforms, attacked the offices of the Houston-based company ABB-Lummus Global Inc, in the western port of Yanbu, killing six Westerners and a Saudi. The attackers dragged the body of an American contractor behind a car through the streets of Yanbu for several kilometres. All four attackers were later killed in a shootout with security forces. The attack sent shockwaves through the Western community in the kingdom, forcing many to re-assess their stay in the country. When gunmen shot dead a German expatriate in the parking lot of a shopping centre in Riyadh on 22 May the fear of Westerners in Saudi Arabia was compounded. But it was the well-synchronised attack on 29 May on oil offices and the Oasis compound in the eastern province city of Khobar that really scared foreigners in the country. At least four terrorists attacked a complex housing the offices of several foreign oil companies. Yet another American was dragged behind a car. The terrorists then attacked the Oasis compound, lobbing grenades at the gate to force their way in. They ran from house to house, looking for Americans to kill. They then holed up in a small hotel on the compound, taking all of the staff hostage. Several Hindu and Christian staff were slaughtered, their throats slit. One Filipino receptionist survived by locking himself in a room and not coming out until Saudi commandos rescued him the next day. Three of the attackers managed to escape through a police cordon, prompting accusations of collusion. One wounded attacker was left behind along with at least 30 dead. It was after this attack that at least 5,000 Americans left the kingdom, either moving to nearby Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, or returning home to the United States. A series of targeted killings in Riyadh during June left two American military contractors dead, shot in their cars or in front of their homes. A team of BBC reporters was also attacked filming in a conservative stronghold of the capital: cameraman Simon Cumbers died instantly, while correspondent Frank Gardiner was so seriously wounded that he is still paralysed. The kidnapping of American Paul Johnson at a fake police checkpoint in the capital on 15 June sent shockwaves through the remaining expatriate community. The terrorists post pictures of a gagged Johnson on the Internet and give the authorities a deadline, demanding that Al-Qaeda terrorists be released in exchange for the American. A furious house-to-house search ensued but it was too little, too late. Johnson's headless body is found dumped three days later by the side of a street. His head is found several months later in the freezer of a terrorist hideout raided by the police. The authorities claimed that they had captured the purported head of Al-Qaeda's Saudi branch. Abdul-Aziz Al-Muqrin, shortly afterwards, claiming the capture as a major victory. The trial of the three reformists does not begin until 18 August when they make their first appearance before a three-judge panel in Riyadh. The delay occurs after the reformists refuse a closed trial. There are too many friends and supporters to fit into the tiny courtroom allocated and so the case is postponed. The reformists' lawyer, Abdul-Rahman Al-Lahem, is arrested on 6 November and held at Al-Hair jail without charges. No one knows why he is arrested, though his lawyer colleagues believe it is because of the interviews he had been giving to satellite TV stations such as Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya. On 30 November the reformists scored a victory when a judge ruled that their case should be heard by a lower court dealing with non-felony cases. Following the relative calm of the summer and autumn months, on the morning of 6 December four heavily armed terrorists threw hand grenades at the side entrance of the US consulate in Jeddah, shooting at the guards and consulate employees as they ran inside the heavily-fortified compound. Four hours later, after burning down a US Marine house and using consulate employees as human shields, three of the terrorists, reportedly from Madina, were killed by Saudi commandos. At least five consulate employees were killed and seven wounded in the attack. The consulate remains closed until today, despite the arrival of a 50-strong contingent of US Marines to secure the facility. The year ended with the closing of voter registration in the Riyadh region. Out of 400,000 male Saudi voters a little over 100,000 registered, showing just how new a concept democracy is in the kingdom. Women, though not excluded by electoral law, are being excluded from this election due to technical reasons, something that angered many Saudi women, who are also not allowed to drive or leave the country without the written approval of a male guardian. The municipal elections, set to begin in Riyadh on 10 February and ending in the Western region in March, will see half of all the 178 municipal council seats directly elected by male Saudis over 21 years of age. The other half of the councils will be appointed by the government. While some Saudis see these elections as a glimmer of hope in a country badly in need of reform, others say that too little is being done too slowly. Many question the power that the councils will be given, and say that as long as the government holds reformists in jail and suppresses protests against the government such as the one held in Jeddah on 16 December, the ruling royal family's commitment to reform will remain in doubt.
