The New York Times - Opinion
Shortly before I left Saudi Arabia in January, Dr. Tawfiq al-Khusayer, a Saudi engineering professor and veteran reformist, told me he had a premonition that he might be hauled off to jail, and he asked me to stay in touch. The professor, a moderate Islamist, is one of the authors of a petition that was delivered to Crown Prince Abdullah in December, and that seeks to transform the kingdom into a constitutional monarchy.
In recent months Dr. Khusayer like many Saudis, had become dangerously impatient with the sluggish rate of government reforms. Twelve days ago, after the Saudi government formally announced the country's first National Commission on Human Rights, he sent me an email message: ''We now have our first human rights committee. 100 percent selected by the Interior Ministry. 75 percent are agents or loyal clerks. We will keep running in circles until we get tired.''
Well, apparently he and several other prominent reformists decided to create their own circle first. They defied the ban on public gatherings, met in a hotel, set up their own independent human rights organization and planned to issue a paper criticizing the government's commission. Except that the royal family beat them to the finish, and last Monday, the professor's auguries bore fruit. The minister of interior, Prince Naif, who by all accounts was enraged by the petition, sent the police to round up several prominent reformists -- professors, writers, activists. The roundup came days before Secretary of State Colin L. Powell visited the kingdom on Friday, and though the timing may be a coincidence it nevertheless sends out a signal that the royal family has no intention of adhering to American ideas of freedom. But it's also in keeping with the contradictory and often self-defeating ways of the royal family. The day after the arrests Abdul Rahman Alahim, a lawyer and rights advocate, was on the satellite television network Al Jazeera criticizing the government for just that. Arresting people for their opinions, he said, is against the very human rights the government is calling for. The next day he, too, was in prison.
The contradictions you can see all over Saudi Arabia today are a reflection of the country's and the royal family's schizophrenic state: They must change to survive, yet they're afraid of change. At the end of February, Saudi Arabia decided to issue tourist visas for the first time. Meanwhile, the religious establishment imposed a ban on the importation of dolls; in Wahhabism, human representations are heresy and may lead to idol worship.
In Riyadh you'll find high-rise glass malls selling Armani and Starbucks and displaying curvaceous mannequins in lacy lingerie -- sold only by men. Then go to Imam University in Riyadh. Because of Wahhabi strictures on segregation, I found female students in a classroom where they watch their male professor on a television set -- or rather watch part of him, his arm writing lessons on a board. When the students have questions, they must telephone the professor, who stands alone in a room before a camera. ''Sometimes the silence was so unsettling,'' recalled Dr. Khusayer, who taught engineering at Saud University, ''that I'd shout out, 'Hello, is anyone there?'''
The contradictions are even more convoluted in entertainment. Because most television programs, including music, are prohibited under Wahhabi restrictions, Saudis tune into foreign Arabic satellite stations that are in fact owned by the Saudi royal family. To evade the religious restrictions on entertainment, these networks transmit programs like ''Seinfeld'' and boisterous American, Arabic and European talk shows by satellite from Dubai or London.
Many Saudis were thus perplexed but not surprised by the arrests last week. As one analyst who asked not to be named said, ''The authorities want to teach the liberals a lesson that they do not care what America thinks and that they can put them in jail at any time.'' The arrests may also have been a message to the Wahhabi establishment: Yes, Mr. Powell is coming but don't think our speeches about reform mean we're bowing to American pressures. Everything's still business as usual.
According to Front Line, an international human rights group, the reformists were locked up for criticizing the human rights commission's lack of independence, for submitting an application to form an independent human rights organization, and for petitioning the government over the past two years to take steps towards political reforms. To get out of jail, the detainees need only pledge to cease campaigning for reforms. Some have reportedly been released, but six dissidents have refused.
One of those refusing is Mohammad Sayeed al-Tayeeb, an elderly intellectual and rights advocate known for his Tuesday night ''majles'' or salon -- a discussion group for intellectuals, business people, writers, activists (only men) at his home in Jiddah. After he and the others submitted the petition, he knew trouble was coming and told me: ''The royals say suggest anything, but away from the media. Our reply is that this is not a personal affair. This is a public affair. This is a huge country and you're asking people for a secret petition?''
Under Islamic law, the king's door must be open. But, as many Saudis explained, you must follow the rules; if you want to give advice you should whisper it to the king in private. Once the advice is written and hence public, it's like a declaration of war. Yet, Mr. Tayeeb argued: ''This constitutional reform is to save the leadership itself. We told them, 'Who else will guarantee it?' For 50 years, it depended on the U.S. government but they've lost that. They depended on financial power which can buy anyone. They've lost that. We have a debt of 600 billion rials and a population growing by more than half a million a year. So now the only power they can depend upon are the religious groups.''
Which may explain why the rule about public and private advice was suspended in the case of radical Islamists. In January, 159 of them published a petition protesting the educational reforms imposed by the government -- removing teachings like harboring hatred in your heart for non-Muslims or for Muslims not like you. The Islamists complained that the government was catering to American pressure and interfering in Islamic and religious teaching.
While the Islamists went unpunished, that same month, Prince Naif, the minister of interior, called 20 of the constitutional monarchy authors to his office expecting to intimidate them into backing down. Instead, several participants said, the prince was surprised by their intractability. What really seemed to incense him was the suggestion that the royal family ''reign and not rule.''
''He accused us of trying to dismantle them and turn the family into figureheads,'' said one participant.
''We said that's not our issue,'' Matrouk al-Faleh, a political scientist at King Saud University who was arrested last week, told me in January. What they seek is accountability and participation. ''But,'' he added, ''their mentality is so rigid. They can't accept society is changing.''
Mr. Tayeeb said: ''We told them, 'If you want to stay 200 years more you must change to constitutional monarchy. The only way to save this country is through civil institutions. Otherwise the ceiling will fall on all of us.''
A version of this article appears in print on March 21, 2004, Section 4, Page 3 of the National edition with the headline: The World; A Saudi Response on Reform: Round Up the Usual Dissidents.