May 28, 2003	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 25,1424

JEDDAH, May 27: Saudi Arabian authorities have fired the editor-in-chief of a leading reformist newspaper after an influential religious leader issued an edict calling for a mass boycott of the daily, staff at the paper said on Tuesday.

This followed a campaign launched by the Arabic-language al-Watan daily against the powerful religious leaders, and was seen by many journalists as an indication of a power struggle between the establishment and reform-minded officials.

Saudi editors at al-Watan, which is owned by a member of the royal al-Saud family, said Editor-in-Chief Jamal Khashoggi had been sacked on Monday evening, hours after Sheikh Abdullah bin Abdul Rahman al-Jibrin, a member of Saudi Arabia’s religious edicts body, issued his edict saying the paper had ridiculed “virtuous” people.

Khashoggi was not immediately available for a comment.

Al-Watan has recently published a series of damning articles against the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the Saudi Arabia’s religious police.

Mr Khashoggi, who was recently appointed to al-Watan, is seen as a leading reformist voice in Saudi Arabia. He wrote several editorials condemning religious extremism after the suicide bombings that killed 34 people in Riyadh this month.

Like other media organizations in Saudi Arabia, al-Watan follows strict government guidelines on its editorial content. It is owned by the son of Foreign Affairs Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal.—Reuters