Saudi detains activist ahead of Bush visit
By Andrew Hammond
RIYADH, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has detained another reform activist, a colleague said on Thursday, in the latest of a series of measures against government critics ahead of a visit by U.S. President George W. Bush.
Mohammed al-Bijadi was detained by state security police in the northern town of Buraida on Wednesday, Matruk al-Faleh told Reuters.
Bijadi was previously held for three months over his role in two protests by women over the indefinite detention of their husbands, Faleh said.
Critics say the authorities have exploited their battle with militants to crackdown on democracy campaigners, who face a revolving door of arrest, release and re-arrest.
"This detention shows the increasing repression by the Interior Ministry of reform activists," said Faleh, jailed in 2005 over calls for reform of the Saudi monarchy's rigid political system.
Faleh cited the case of a well-known Saudi blogger who has been in detention since December. Fouad Farhan was detained in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, and the authorities have only said the detention is not related to "security issues".
Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki said on Wednesday he was not aware of Bijadi's arrest. He also said there were no new developments in Farhan's case.
Colleagues say Farhan said a few days before his arrest that the Interior Ministry wanted him to sign an "apology" for running an online campaign over the case of nine reformers detained in February on suspicion of "funding terrorism".
One of the men was released in September, but the others remain in detention without charge.
Washington rarely criticises in public Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter which relies on a U.S. military support in the Gulf, over its political and human rights record.
But Bush, who arrives in Riyadh on Monday as part of a Middle East tour, broke with tradition by speaking out against a Saudi court verdict condemning a gang rape victim to 200 lashes in a case that provoked international outcry in November.
Last month King Abdullah, promoted as a reformer in the Saudi media, issued a "pardon" to the 19-year-old woman who hardline cleric-judges blamed for being with an unrelated man when she was kidnapped by her seven attackers.
Bush is looking for Saudi and Arab support for U.S. efforts to further isolate Iran in the region as well as reach an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. (Editing by Sami Aboudi)
