Last week Saudi Arabia announced its first elections, broke up its firstever peaceful demonstration and hosted a three-day Human Rights Conference, writes John R Bradley in Jeddah Hundreds of Saudis marched down the main avenue of Riyadh last week in an unprecedented demonstration timed to coincide with the opening of the kingdom's first Human Rights Conference and a day after the Saudi government announced that the kingdom will hold its first legislative elections. Seats on each regional council will be up for election in a step toward implementing reforms promised by King Fahd in May and long backed by the de facto leader, Crown Prince Abdullah. Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy, has an appointed advisory Shura Council instead of a national parliament, and it has never held elections for public office at any level. Half the seats for the 14 regional councils will be elected, the Saudi Cabinet said in an announcement. The other half will presumably be appointed by the Saudi government. Al-Hayat newspaper quoted unnamed Saudi officials as saying that one-third of the Shura Council would also be elected within three years. Further details were not immediately available, including a specific date for either of the elections or whether women will be allowed to vote in this strict Islamic country. Women here are forbidden to drive and were issued identity cards only two years ago. The cabinet statement said the decision to hold local elections had been made "to implement King Fahd's speech about widening popular participation, confirming the country's progress toward political and administrative reform and reviewing regulations and orders, and to monitor performance of government institutions and accountability in all internal affairs". Since the 11 September attacks, in which 15 of the 19 suicide hijackers were Saudi nationals, Riyadh has come under intense pressure from Washington to implement social and political reforms in hopes of curbing rising extremism here. Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and Al- Qa'eda leader Osama Bin Laden, is cracking down on extremists, especially since a series of bomb attacks in Riyadh five months ago. The nation's first-ever Human Rights Conference, a three-day event, examined rights issues in the context of Islamic law. Earlier this year the kingdom announced the establishment of two human rights organisations, one government-run and the other independent. Pressure for change from the United States is a double-edged sword here. Anti-US sentiment is at an all-time high as a result of the invasion of Iraq and Israel's handling of the Palestinian uprising. Saudi reformers who have thrown their lot with American critics of the Saudi state have found themselves increasingly unpopular at home. Lists of such writers have appeared on Islamist Web sites under the heading "apostates". The announcement of local elections nevertheless follows increased demands by reformists, intellectuals and academics to allow wider political participation, elections and freedom of expression. Reformers have recently made several petitions calling for an independent judiciary, constitutional reforms, Shura Council elections, freedom of expression, the creation of civil society institutions and economic reform. Last month, about 300 Saudi men and women signed a petition, the third this year, urging Saudi rulers to speed up promised reforms to ward off the influence of extremist Islam in the kingdom. As the Human Rights Conference got underway, the US, German and British embassies warned expatriates that there was credible evidence of a planned terrorist attack against the capital's two main skyscrapers. Next to one of them, the Kingdom Tower, demonstrators chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) were dispersed by anti-riot police, who fired rubber bullets into the air two hours after the protest began. Interior Minister Prince Naif later confirmed that at least 150 people had been arrested, although most were reportedly freed after only a few hours. Traffic in the centre of Riyadh was brought to a standstill and special security forces maintained a heavy presence. The protest was organised by Saad Al-Faqih, a Saudi dissident who heads the London-based Movement for Islamic Reform. He is calling for the ruling House of Saud to be overthrown. How much support he has in Saudi Arabia is not clear. After months of publicity on his radio station for the protest, a few hundred Saudis, most of them under 30, showed up. Reformist intellectuals in the kingdom who have petitioned Crown Prince Abdullah unconditionally distanced themselves from Al-Faqih. Saudis cannot legally hold public gatherings to discuss political or social issues and press freedoms are limited. During the week leading up to the demonstration a huge banner emblazoned with the words "Human Rights" had been visible in the capital, but it was put up by the Saudi government, not the protesters. In a country where people are often reluctant to even mention the words "human rights" in public, the fact that Saudi Arabia hosted the Human Rights in Peace and War Conference, organised by the Saudi Red Crescent, is significant. However, Western human rights groups were not in attendance. Neil Durkin, of Amnesty International, said the organisation was disappointed not to have been invited. The conference, he said, could just be "window-dressing". But, the authorities appeared to be getting the message about the need for reform. Saleh Al-Tuwaijri, organiser of the conference, said, "There is a misunderstanding between Islamic and Western societies and we believe the reason is a lack of intellectual contact. The more we can provide such contact, the wider the understanding of Islamic Shari'a in the West."
