The appointment of 30 Saudi women to Saudi Arabia's consultative Shura Council by King Abdullah on 11 January took some Saudis by surprise because of the relatively large number of appointees. Until then, the council had been a purely male bastion (...)
Shock and dismay were the reactions of the 31 Bahrainis who were stripped of their citizenship by the Bahraini government on 7 November for allegedly breaching national security and damaging the supreme interests of the country, according to (...)
A leading human rights activist in Bahrain claims that Brazilian tear gas has already killed several children, reports Rashid Abul-Samh
In the ongoing protests against the Al-Khalifa ruling family of Bahrain, Zainab Al-Khawaja, a leading human (...)
The sentencing of 16 reformists in Riyadh to stiff jail terms has raised doubts about the fairness of the Saudi judicial system, reports Rashid Abul-Samh
"Horrible, uncalled for and unfounded" were the words used by Bassim Alim, the lawyer of the 16 (...)
The death of the crown prince brings a new old face to Saudi politics, reports Rashid Abul-Samh
The death of Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdel-Aziz, age 86, early on the morning of 22 October in a New York hospital following a long battle with (...)
The arrest of Iranian suspect in a plot to kill the Saudi envoy raises more questions than answers, says Rashid Abul-Samh
The announcement last week of the arrest of an Iranian suspect in New York, accused of plotting to assassinate the Saudi (...)
While not on the scale of Bahrain, Saudi Shia rioted yet again for better conditions, reports Rashid Abul-Samh
Saudi security forces probably did not realise that their arrests of two elderly men in their 70s in the village of Awamiyah in the (...)
Saudi women were surprised as the king granted them the right to vote -- in 2015, says Rashid Abul-Samh
Women across Saudi Arabia were pleasantly surprised on 25 September when King Abdullah announced in a five-minute speech televised live that he (...)
Fed up with constantly having to rely on husbands, fathers or brothers to drive them around, women in Saudi Arabia are once again pushing for the right to drive, writes Rashid Abul-Samh
The arrest of the young, divorced mother of one, Manal (...)
The constellation of forces in the Arab world is poised to change radically, notes Rashid Abul-Samh
The announcement last week in Riyadh that the Gulf Cooperation Council welcomed bids by Jordan and Morocco to join the organisation was met first (...)
US hypocrisy is plain for all to see in the Gulf, says Rashid Abul-Samh
The sight of smiling Saudi soldiers flashing the V-sign of peace as they rolled into Bahrain in light-armoured vehicles on 14 March must have surprised many Saudis and Bahrainis (...)
The Saudi royal family appear to be weathering the regional wave of uprisings against autocratic rule, though for how long remains in question, writes Rashid Abul-Samh
The "Day of Rage" called for 11 March in Saudi Arabia by democracy activists (...)