Reformers in Saudi Arabia: Seeking Rights, Paying a Price - New York Times

Reformers in Saudi Arabia: Seeking Rights, Paying a Price - New York Times:

"Here and elsewhere, Arab reformers tend to be isolated dissidents, sometimes labeled heretics, much like those persecuted under Soviet totalitarianism.

Even those who pursue the mildest forms of protest are slapped with long prison sentences. The right to assemble does not exist, political parties are banned along with nongovernment organizations, and the ruling princes constantly tell editors what they can print. Local television is almost all clerics, all the time.

The many Islamic theological institutions that maintain the rule of the Saud princes determine the parameters of any public debate."