{"id":1826,"date":"2003-10-15T01:05:17","date_gmt":"2003-10-15T06:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?p=1826"},"modified":"2003-10-15T01:05:17","modified_gmt":"2003-10-15T06:05:17","slug":"saudis_open_tap_of_freedom_and_cant_turn_it_off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2003\/10\/saudis_open_tap_of_freedom_and_cant_turn_it_off\/","title":{"rendered":": Saudis Open Tap Of Freedom &#045; And Can&#8217;t Turn It Off"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><table cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\">\n<tr>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.altmuslim.com\/ee_images\/saudi_prince.jpg\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"right\">\n<div class=\"caption\"><\/div>\n<p><\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>Saudi Arabia can be a cautious country sometimes.  Just last week, they <a href=\"http:\/\/www.smh.com.au%2Farticles%2F2003%2F10%2F15%2F1065917460262.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">turned back<\/a> a shipload of 60,000 Australian sheep for fear that a few of them might be diseased.  With that same sense of caution, the Saudi government will be <a href=\"http:\/\/www.arabnews.com%2F%3Fpage%3D4%26section%3D0%26article%3D33057%26d%3D5%26m%3D10%26y%3D2003\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">following<\/a> some of their neighbors in holding <a href=\"http:\/\/www.globeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FRTGAM.20031013.wsaudi1013%2FBNStory%2FInternational%2F\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">elections<\/a> (albeit limited, municipal ones) for the first time.  Pressure from both Western-educated royals and ordinary citizens pushed the decision forward.  \u201cOur leaders are not experimenters, they are only seeking to do what is the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sfgate.com%2Fcgi-bin%2Farticle.cgi%3Ff%3D%2Fnews%2Farchive%2F2003%2F10%2F14%2Finternational0615EDT0484.DTL\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">wish of the Saudi citizen<\/a>,\u201d said Prince Saud al-Faisal on the upcoming vote, which would elect councils in 14 cities.  \u201cWe have reached the stage of development where the participation of the citizens of Saudi Arabia is a requirement now.\u201d  It\u2019s quite a change for the desert kingdom, which also took a chance in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.arabnews.com%2F%3Fpage%3D1%26section%3D0%26article%3D33589%26d%3D14%26m%3D10%26y%3D2003%26pix%3Dkingdom.jpg%26category%3DKingdom\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">allowing<\/a> a human rights conference in Riyadh to proceed \u2013 probably thinking that Saudis would lay off criticizing the government in gratitude.  That was not to be, as the conference was accompanied by a <a href=\"http:\/\/edition.cnn.com%2F2003%2FWORLD%2Fmeast%2F10%2F14%2Fsaudi.reforms.reut%2F\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">rare demonstration<\/a> that ended in police gunfire and 50 arrests, as well as calls by reformists to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.alertnet.org%2Fthenews%2Fnewsdesk%2FL14216873.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">expand the scope<\/a> of future elections.  Some feel that expanded democracy is essential to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.news.scotsman.com%2Finternational.cfm%3Fid%3D1134602003\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">curb militancy<\/a> and give channels (other than violence) for people to express political will.  \u201cWe need [a] separation of powers, a parliament, and civil, economic and social rights of citizens,\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/www.alertnet.org%2Fthenews%2Fnewsdesk%2FL14216873.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">said<\/a> Abdullah al-Hamed, a reformist who was jailed for signing a reform petition in 1990.  Looks like Saudis aren\u2019t going to be sheep anymore.<\/p>\n<p><i><\/i><\/p>\n<p>Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.\n<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Saudi Arabia sets a date for their first ever municipal elections, and protests for additional political reforms and human rights follow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":530,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-briefings"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>: Saudis Open Tap Of Freedom &#045; And Can&#8217;t Turn It Off<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Saudi Arabia sets a date for their first ever municipal elections, and protests for additional political reforms and human rights follow.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2003\/10\/saudis_open_tap_of_freedom_and_cant_turn_it_off\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\": Saudis Open Tap Of Freedom &#045; 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