RIYADH, June 30: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has no right to speak about the case of three jailed activists whose cause she took up during a recent visit here, Saudi Interior Minister Nayef ben Abdel Aziz said on Wednesday.

“It’s an internal matter, nobody has the right to speak about it,” the minister was quoted as saying, in response to questions on Ms Rice’s comments on the three activists.

“Three individuals in particular are currently imprisoned for peacefully petitioning their government — and this should not be a crime in any country,” she said in a speech at Cairo’s American University.

She was referring to three Saudis sentenced to between six and nine years in prison on charges of demanding a constitutional monarch.—AFP