We had a bit on this yesterday, from al-Jizz...
Police in Saudi Arabia have arrested an advocate of religious reform, two days after he appeared on the Arab television station, al-Jazeera. Officers arrested Saeed bin Mubarak al-Zaeer, 57, in Riyadh. He was released a year ago after spending eight years in prison without charge. A family member told the BBC he thought the authorities had used the TV appearance as a pretext for his arrest. Mr Zaeer is an academic in mass communications and a religious reformist who has called for greater transparency within the closely state-monitored Saudi clergy. Two days earlier, al-Jazeera interviewed him about an audio tape purportedly released by Osama Bin Laden, in which he offered European nations a truce if they withdrew their troops from Muslim countries. "He justified terrorist attacks and the killing of policemen and then aired these provocative and dangerous views on television," an interior ministry official told Reuters. Mr Zaeer's son denied his father had backed militant attacks during the television talk show.
| Pretty simple to disprove. Play the tape. |
The official said Mr Zaeer would probably be charged and prosecuted for instigating violence. |