RIYADH, July 16: With Britain under pressure after the London blasts to look closely at its asylum policy especially to those from the Middle East, the issue of Saudi dissident, Saad al Fagih, has again cropped up.

The US Treasury Department also moved in the meantime to freeze the accounts and assets of the group - Movement for Islamic Reforms in Arabia (MIRA) - on charges of links to Al Qaeda.

However, Al Fagih, the head of the London-based Saudi dissident group, termed the freezing of its account as merely symbolic, saying it had no assets or any links with Al Qaeda.

The US government decision to freeze the assets of the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia (MIRA) came on Thursday, saying the group’s head, Saad al Fagih, was on the UN list of people associated with Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Stuart Levey, US Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said Fagih also used MIRA to provide Al Qaeda with recruits and public relations help.

Fagih, an exiled Saudi dissident, denied the allegations and said Washington was targeting him because of the threat he and his organization posed to the Saudi government, a US ally.

He said MIRA aimed to topple the Saudi monarchy.

The Saudi government has also been criticizing the British policy of providing refuge to dissidents.