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Protest at slow pace of Saudi reform
Published: February 23 2007 22:22 | Last updated: February 23 2007 22:22

When Saudi security forces rounded up 10 men earlier this month, the operation was touted as a crackdown on terrorism financing. The authorities alleged that the suspects had been raising illegal donations and smuggling funds to �suspicious bodies�.

But it soon emerged that three of those detained were prominent reformers, while the others were associated with a reform movement that had been trying to reassert itself.

The events turned the spotlight back on the ruling family�s willingness to allow change in a deeply conservative country that is currently enjoying an extraordinary oil boom.

Activists say three of those detained had been distributing a petition calling for political change in the kingdom, including the right to hold public gatherings, curbing the powers of the interior ministry and holding elections for the Shura Council, the consultative assembly appointed by the monarch.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2f87108e-c373-11db-9047-000b5df10621.html