RIYADH, June 21: Saudi Arabia has rejected the criticism of the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on the pace of democratic reforms and the jailing of three activists. Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud al Faisal at a press conference late on Monday said he had told Ms Rice the (three) prisoners had broken a law.
“They are in the hands of the court. The government cannot interfere until the court action is taken in this regard.”
Activists Ali al Demaini, Abdullah al Hamed and Matruk al Faleh were found guilty by Saudi courts earlier this year of ‘using western terminology’ in formulating their demands.
They also allegedly questioned the king’s role as head of the judiciary. They were among a dozen people arrested in March 2004.
The others were released after pledging to no longer lobbying publicly for reform.
“The row is really meaningless,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al Faisal told a post-midnight news conference after Ms Rice conferred with him and the Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz.
On the issue of the current pace of reforms in the kingdom, Prince Saud said, “The assessment that is important for any country in the development of its political reform is the judgment of its own people. And that is, in the final analysis, the criteria that we follow.”
Ms Rice’s comments in Cairo earlier in the day before embarking on the Saudi leg of the tour were among the more forthright US statements on Saudi shortcomings, but she apparently toned down her appeal for reform as she stood alongside Prince Saud at the Riyadh news conference.
“Obviously countries will do this at their own speed,” Ms Rice said during the press conference.
“But we encourage reform to go forward as quickly as possible.”
Prince Saud was unruffled. Asked about Ms Rice’s speech in Cairo he said he had been too busy preparing for her arrival here.
“I am afraid I haven’t read it to my eternal shame,” he said.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also clarified in Riyadh that the United States had no plan to impose democracy on Middle Eastern countries.
“It’s up to the countries in the region to implement democracy. Our role is just to speed up the democratization process,” she said.
Speaking to reporters here, Rice also said she had raised the issue of three jailed Saudi reformists during her meeting with Foreign Minister Prince Saud al Faisal.
“I did raise the issue of reformists tonight with the foreign minister and we continue to follow the progress of the case.”
She said she believed that petitioning the government should not be a crime.
Earlier, Crown Prince Abdullah and Rice held talks on major regional and international issues, including Palestine and Iraq, and ways of strengthening bilateral ties.
Ms Rice had flown into Riyadh on Monday evening on the fourth leg of a regional swing after delivering a key speech in Cairo calling for sweeping democratic change and naming Saudi Arabia as one of the states still lagging.
Addressing 600 Egyptian officials, scholars and students at Cairo’s American University, she had praised the ‘brave citizens’ in Saudi Arabia who were ‘demanding accountable government’.
“Some first steps toward openness have been taken with recent municipal elections,” the chief US diplomat said.
“Yet many people still pay an unfair price for exercising their basic rights. Three individuals in particular are currently imprisoned for peacefully petitioning their government — and this should not be a crime in any country.”
She was referring to three activists sentenced to between six and nine years in prison in May on charges of demanding a constitutional monarch in the kingdom.
The State Department had already registered concern over the fate of the activists, and Ms Rice said she raised the matter in her talks late Monday with the Saudi leadership.
“We will continue to follow the progress of this case. We think it is an important case,” she said.
“The petitioning of the government for reform should not be a crime.”
Prince Saud described the talks between Prince Abdullah and the secretary of state as ‘fruitful’.
He emphasized the strong relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States.
The two countries have set up a special committee to strengthen their ties.
