Saudi Arabia
One of the most devout and insular countries in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia has emerged from being an underdeveloped desert kingdom to become one of the wealthiest nations in the region thanks to vast oil resources. The Al Saud dynasty holds a monopoly of power; political parties are banned and the opposition is organised from abroad. Many commentators consider that reform in Saudi Arabia as inevitable, but when and at what speed? An important factor is differences within the ruling family regarding reform, with Crown Prince Abdullah often perceived as more reformist. Its rulers face the delicate task of responding to pressure for reform while combatting a growing problem of extremist violence.
In 1932 Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud united different regions of the Arabian Peninsula into one nation, modern Saudi Arabia, over which he became king. His family has ruled Saudi Arabia since then. Since King Fahd's stroke in 1996, his half-brother Crown Prince Abdullah has taken over most of his day-to-day responsibilities.
In February, March and April 2005, municipal elections took place, hailed by some commentators as a first step toward democracy, despite the fact that only men were able to vote and many boycotted the elections as most of the candidates were endorsed by clerics. Furthermor, half those on municipal councils are appointees and in any case members of municipal councils have little power. Women have been promised both the right to vote and the right to stand in the next municipal elections in 2009.
After the USA and along with France, Britain is an important ally with military ties to Saudi Arabia. Nonetheless, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office lists basic concerns about human rights in Saudi Arabia: "the implementation of basic international human rights norms; aspects of the judicial system; corporal and capital punishment; torture; discrimination against women and non-Muslims; and restrictions on freedom of movement, expression, assembly and worship." Even this list is not comprehensive, for instance homosexuality is banned in Saudi Arabia and punishable by imprisonment or flogging.
Although Saudi Arabia ratified with reservations the International Covenant on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 2000, in practice women in Saudi Arabia continue to suffer discrimination. The Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, or the "religious police", oversees gender segregation.
Migrant workers, estimated by the Saudi Ministry of Labour to make up a third of the country's population, are often exploited, with some working up to sixteen hours per day as documented by Human Rights Watch and other human rights groups. Of the approximately fifty people executed in Saudi Arabia in 2003, about two-thirds were foreign nationals.
Following both the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States and the 12 May 2003 suicide bombings in Riyadh, when twenty-six people as well as nine suicide-bombers were killed, some journalists tackled previously off-limits subjects such as crime, unemployment and the problem of religious militancy. However, the government continues to dominate the press, with editors avoiding criticism of the ruling family and official policies, plus any material that could be construed as critical of Islam. Although the press (one daily newspaper for each major region plus many magazines) is privately owned, newspapers receive state subsidies, whilst the Information Ministry approves the appointment of editors and has the power to fire them. For instance, Jamal Khashoggi, editor of the daily Al-Watan, lost his job in May 2003 after material in the paper including cartoons suggested responsibility for the May attacks lay with the religious establishment and religious fanatics who foster intolerance.
Discussion of controversial ideas in the media and Internet remains limited in Saudi Arabia. In November 2006 King Abdullah prohibited any official from "opposing the policies or programs of the state by participating in any discussion through media channels or through domestic or foreign communications." Later that year, the government banished journalist Qinan al-Ghamdi for an article lamenting the slow implementation of reforms. The journalist Mansour Nogaidan of the daily Al-Riaydh described in The New York Times in December 2003 how he'd been ordered by a religious court to receive 75 lashes for articles "calling for freedom of speech and criticizing Wahhabism, Saudi Arabia's official religious doctrine", though he seems to have evaded the flogging.
There are frequent public petitions calling for reform in Saudi Arabia but attempts at free expression are usually repressed. In September 2003, a public petition was issued criticizing slow paced reform and the absence of popular participation in decision-making. This petition observed that the lack of freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia fosters the growth of intolerance and extremism. In September 2004, the Council of Ministers announced that the government planned to enforce existing laws prohibiting all public employees from "participating, directly or indirectly, in the preparation of any document, speech or petition, engaging in dialogue with local and foreign media, or participating in any meetings intended to oppose the state's policies."
In 1932 Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud united different regions of the Arabian Peninsula into one nation, modern Saudi Arabia, over which he became king. His family has ruled Saudi Arabia since then. Since King Fahd's stroke in 1996, his half-brother Crown Prince Abdullah has taken over most of his day-to-day responsibilities.
In February, March and April 2005, municipal elections took place, hailed by some commentators as a first step toward democracy, despite the fact that only men were able to vote and many boycotted the elections as most of the candidates were endorsed by clerics. Furthermor, half those on municipal councils are appointees and in any case members of municipal councils have little power. Women have been promised both the right to vote and the right to stand in the next municipal elections in 2009.
After the USA and along with France, Britain is an important ally with military ties to Saudi Arabia. Nonetheless, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office lists basic concerns about human rights in Saudi Arabia: "the implementation of basic international human rights norms; aspects of the judicial system; corporal and capital punishment; torture; discrimination against women and non-Muslims; and restrictions on freedom of movement, expression, assembly and worship." Even this list is not comprehensive, for instance homosexuality is banned in Saudi Arabia and punishable by imprisonment or flogging.
Although Saudi Arabia ratified with reservations the International Covenant on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 2000, in practice women in Saudi Arabia continue to suffer discrimination. The Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, or the "religious police", oversees gender segregation.
Migrant workers, estimated by the Saudi Ministry of Labour to make up a third of the country's population, are often exploited, with some working up to sixteen hours per day as documented by Human Rights Watch and other human rights groups. Of the approximately fifty people executed in Saudi Arabia in 2003, about two-thirds were foreign nationals.
Following both the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States and the 12 May 2003 suicide bombings in Riyadh, when twenty-six people as well as nine suicide-bombers were killed, some journalists tackled previously off-limits subjects such as crime, unemployment and the problem of religious militancy. However, the government continues to dominate the press, with editors avoiding criticism of the ruling family and official policies, plus any material that could be construed as critical of Islam. Although the press (one daily newspaper for each major region plus many magazines) is privately owned, newspapers receive state subsidies, whilst the Information Ministry approves the appointment of editors and has the power to fire them. For instance, Jamal Khashoggi, editor of the daily Al-Watan, lost his job in May 2003 after material in the paper including cartoons suggested responsibility for the May attacks lay with the religious establishment and religious fanatics who foster intolerance.
Discussion of controversial ideas in the media and Internet remains limited in Saudi Arabia. In November 2006 King Abdullah prohibited any official from "opposing the policies or programs of the state by participating in any discussion through media channels or through domestic or foreign communications." Later that year, the government banished journalist Qinan al-Ghamdi for an article lamenting the slow implementation of reforms. The journalist Mansour Nogaidan of the daily Al-Riaydh described in The New York Times in December 2003 how he'd been ordered by a religious court to receive 75 lashes for articles "calling for freedom of speech and criticizing Wahhabism, Saudi Arabia's official religious doctrine", though he seems to have evaded the flogging.
There are frequent public petitions calling for reform in Saudi Arabia but attempts at free expression are usually repressed. In September 2003, a public petition was issued criticizing slow paced reform and the absence of popular participation in decision-making. This petition observed that the lack of freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia fosters the growth of intolerance and extremism. In September 2004, the Council of Ministers announced that the government planned to enforce existing laws prohibiting all public employees from "participating, directly or indirectly, in the preparation of any document, speech or petition, engaging in dialogue with local and foreign media, or participating in any meetings intended to oppose the state's policies."
An unprecedented demonstration was held on 14 October 2003 at the opening of an officially-sponsored human rights conference, hundreds of demonstrators were arrested, and about eighty people kept in detention for several months without charge or trial, while others were sentenced and served several months in jail and others were flogged.
In March 2004, the government established a National Commission on Human Rights, (NCHR). However, the NCHR it is not an independent body; instead most of the members are government officials. Twelve leading reformers who attempted to circulate a petition in March 2004 calling for Saudi Arabia to become a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament and aiming to set up an independent human rights group were arrested. Most were released after a few weeks, having agreed to make their arguments only to officials and not in the press. However, charges were brought against leading poet and novelist Ali al-Domaini and the academic, writer and activist Dr. Matrouq al-Faleh. The two men were sentenced with nine and six years respectively for threatening national unity, promoting constituional monarchy and using Western terminology in their demands for reform.
In March 2004, the government established a National Commission on Human Rights, (NCHR). However, the NCHR it is not an independent body; instead most of the members are government officials. Twelve leading reformers who attempted to circulate a petition in March 2004 calling for Saudi Arabia to become a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament and aiming to set up an independent human rights group were arrested. Most were released after a few weeks, having agreed to make their arguments only to officials and not in the press. However, charges were brought against leading poet and novelist Ali al-Domaini and the academic, writer and activist Dr. Matrouq al-Faleh. The two men were sentenced with nine and six years respectively for threatening national unity, promoting constituional monarchy and using Western terminology in their demands for reform.
Foreign publications are subject to government censorship before they enter the country, with articles considered morally or politically objectionable blacked out or distribution banned. Reporting that is critical of Saudi Arabia may lead to barring from the country. For example, in 2003 the government refused to allow the Qatar-based Arabic language satellite station Al-Jazeera to cover the hajj. Amnesty International was refused permission to attend the October 2003 human rights conference.
Worldwide, new technology is harder to control than print journalism. There is a relatively very high use of satellite dishes in Saudi Arabia - in fact, Saudi Arabia launched the first Arabic satellite TV channel, MBC, in 1991 in London. Many Saudi citizens access Arabic-language and other news stations outside the country. In 1999 the Internet arrived officially in Saudi Arabia, where the Internet Services Unit (ISU) is now responsible for maintaining the Saudi Internet censorship system. In 2004 Reporteurs sans frontičres stated "Saudi Arabia has created one of the world's biggest Internet filtering systems. The authorities have officially announced that they block access to nearly 400,000 webpages, with the aim of 'protecting citizens from offensive content and content the violates the principles of Islam and the social norms.'" However, RSF went on to show how some computer-users are able to avoid state censorship.
Sources: For further information, based on primary research, see the annual reports from Amnesty International (http://www.amnesty.org/), the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (http://www.cpj.org/), Reporters Without Borders (http://www.rsf.fr/) and the International Freedom of Expression eXchange (http://ifex.org/) . See also Human Rights Watch (http://www.hrw.org/). For more general information on Saudi Arabia, see the Foreign and Commonwealth Office country profile (www.fco.gov.uk).