Riyadh recalls ambassador amid angry demonstrations over Cairo lawyer’s arrest
Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador to Cairo and closed its missions over the weekend in a diplomatic crisis sparked by street protests over the arrest an Egyptian human rights activist on a pilgrimage to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
The imbroglio is of a type unthinkable just over a year ago, before President Husni Mubarak was ousted from office and the government would have suppressed popular protests targeting friendly countries. But in the new Egypt, popular anger at countries like Israel, the U.S. and now Saudi Arabia is expressed openly and often in defiance of government policy, leaving headaches for the country’s interim military government trying to pick up the pieces.
The protests that led to the Saudi recall exploded last Tuesday when hundreds of activists and human rights workers gathered in front of the Saudi Embassy in Cairo after it reported that Mohamed el-Gizawi, an Egyptian human rights lawyer, had been arrested April 17 in Jeddah International Airport on charges of carrying drugs.
The demonstrations did not let up. On Friday around 1,000 people protested outside the mission, demanding the release of el-Gizawi and other Egyptians held in Saudi jails. Rallies also took place in front of the kingdom’s consulates in Alexandria and Suez. One sign read, “One lash to el-Gizawi will mean a 100 for you, ambassador.” Others directed their anger at the Saudi monarchy. “Down, down with Al-Saud!” another said, referring to the royal family and “Screw you, your majesty!” in reference to King Abdullah.
The angry words pointed by the emerging culture clash between Egypt, whose citizens have never enjoyed so much freedom as they have in the past year, and Saudi Arabia, where an absolute monarchy imposes severe limits on freedom of speech and lese majesty is a crime. The protests also touched on long-standing complaints by Egyptians about how their nationals, whether as pilgrims and guest workers, are treated in the kingdom.
“Everyone should forget Mubarak’s Egypt. We are not a second class people. Everyone should fear a revolutionary Egypt that is keen to preserve its citizens’ dignity and rights,” Engy Hamdy, a political member of the opposition Sixth of April, said on Wednesday.
El-Gizawi came Saudi to take part in the umrah pilgrimage, or lesser Hajj, to Islamic holy sites when he was arrested and jailed upon arrival. The Saudi government alleges that el-Gizawi was caught with 21,380 Xanax pills hidden in powdered milk cartons inside his luggage and that he confessed in a signed statement that the drugs were his.
Xanax is a prescription anti-depressant and is used for the medical treatment of panic disorder, and anxiety disorders, according to the American Psychological Association (APA). But Saudi officials termed it an illegal drug.
Egyptian activists, including the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, have dismissed the charges as a cover-up for the real reason behind the arrest, namely that el-Gizawi is an ardent defender of human rights who recently filed lawsuits against Riyadh on behalf of hundreds of Egyptian guest workers over their poor treatment in the country. The fact that he was detained while on pilgrimage has further inflamed Egyptian public opinion.
Some 1.5 million Egyptians work in Saudi Arabia, where they are often abused but send home badly needed money and alleviate pressure on labor market, where unemployment is in the double digits.
El-Gizawy’s family claims he was sentenced by a Saudi court in absentia to a year in prison and 20 lashes for insulting the king. They said he was not informed of the court ruling against him before he traveled to the kingdom, according to the Financial Times.
“Mubarak and Suleiman had passed their experience of framing activists to Saudi Arabia,” the Sixth of April Youth Movement said, referring Omar Suleiman, Mubarak’s intelligence chief. They also accused the Saudi side of lying, saying Wednesday “it is unacceptable and impermissible to kidnap a pilgrim and frame him with false accusations.”
The arrest has sparked an unprecedented fury by Egyptians on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter, with ordinary Saudis responding in kind by turning the el-Gizawi affair into a virtual battlefield.
One activist, Mohamed el-Ba’aly, wrote on his Twitter account, “They bring former security officials in Egypt to frame others of cases they are innocent of and they lack imagination. Same stupidity. Opposition figure = a framed drug case.”
Hashtags such as “The fascist kingdom” and “Free el-Gizawi” have become popular with Egyptian Twitter users, where hundreds continue to voice their anger of the Saudi prosecution of Egyptians. Some activists calculated that the combined weight of the pills el-Gazawi is alleged to have smuggled in his luggage is far more than the maximum allowed on an ordinary a flight.
Even before he was recalled, the Saudi ambassador lashed out against the protesters calling them a “demagogic bunch.” He said “the crisis will not be solved even if Egyptians protest in millions.” He told the Al-Hayat al-Youm daily that he “completely rejects the insults of the kingdom and its King,” adding that it is something that he would not accept from “any living being in Egypt.”
The anger on the street is not shared by the government, which is counting on Saudi Arabia and other conservative Gulf monarchies to help tide it over a growing foreign currency crisis.
Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the head of Egypt’s ruling military council, said in a statement he was working to “heal the rift” with Saudi Arabia and had contacted Riyadh over its “surprise decision.” Egypt’s Foreign Ministry also “condemned” the actions of the protesters.
Egypt needs about $11 billion in financing, of which about $3 billion is due to come from the International Monetary Fund. Some Egyptians are alarmed that the recent escalation might also discourage Saudi investment in Egypt, which is estimated to be worth around $12 billion.