JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) – One of Saudi Arabia’s most senior clerics said he was not consulted about King Abdullah’s decision to grant women more political rights, one of the first signs of discontent from powerful conservatives since the reform was announced.

In a speech last week the Saudi monarch announced that women would vote and run in future municipal council elections and serve in the appointed Shura Council which advises the king on policy.

JEDDAH/DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabian men voted in only the second nationwide election in the country’s history on Thursday, but nearly empty polling booths in the second city, Jeddah, showed few were enthusiastic about voting for municipal councils with little power.

In a year when demands for democracy rocked other major Arab nations, only 1.08 million Saudi men even registered to vote in elections to choose just half the members of municipal councils.

JEDDAH/DUBAI (Reuters) – The right to vote in elections in a country that remains an absolute monarchy, where they still may not work nor travel without assent from a male relative nor drive a car, may seem a small step for the women of Saudi Arabia.

Yet King Abdullah’s unexpected move was a momentous turn in the culture wars that have marked his reign. It may presage more change, not only for women but in the relationship between royal house and clergy upon which the state was founded, and among rivals within a ruling family that faces mounting demands from subjects who see other Arabs pushing closer to democracy.

JEDDAH, Sept 25 (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia will allow women to
stand for election and vote, the king announced on Sunday, in a
significant policy shift in the conservative Islamic kingdowm.

In a five-minute speech, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud
said women will also take part in the next session of the
unelected, advisory Shura Council, which vets legislation but
has no binding powers.

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) – Outside a villa surrounded by palm trees on the outskirts of Saudi Arabia’s second largest city Jeddah, police cars guard an exceptional criminal court where 16 men were put on trial this year after more than four years detention.

The men face charges of “funding terrorism” and coordinating with al Qaeda to take power along with a host of other charges finally pressed last year.

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah demanded an end to the bloodshed in Syria on Monday and recalled his country’s ambassador from Damascus, in a rare case of one of the Arab world’s most powerful leaders intervening against another.

It was the sharpest criticism the oil giant — an absolute monarchy that bans political opposition — has directed against any Arab state since a wave of protests roiled the Middle East and toppled autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt.

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia has revised an anti-terrorism law and made it less severe than a leaked version that was heavily criticised by human rights groups, a Shura Council spokesman said Saturday.

“The draft that was published is not the final one,” said Mohammed Almohanna, spokesman for the advisory parliament.

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) – Saudi security forces killed a gunman early on Saturday after he fired at a checkpoint near the Interior Minister’s palace in Jeddah, the state news agency said.

Police said they were unable to confirm whether the incident was militant-related.

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) – Saudi security forces killed a gunman on Saturday morning after he fired at a checkpoint near the Interior Minister’s palace in Jeddah, the state news agency said.

Police said they were unable to confirm whether the incident was terror related.