Sunday, January 16, 2011

Saudi Arabia chided online: Decision to host former Tunisian president sparks angry criticism on the internet.


Al-Jazeera


" ....Ben Ali, renowned for cracking down on Islamists, had to finally settle in ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia as he was refused asylum by one of his closest allies, France.

"It might be ironic for a person who fought the hijab (Muslim women's head cover) to end up being given asylum in an Islamic state," said Riad Kahwaji, head of the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis.

"His wife will have to live veiled, under the law there," he said.....

Political haven

Several other leaders who found refuge in Saudi Arabia were taken under the same conditions, said Abdul Aziz al-Sager, chairman of the Gulf Research Centre.

Until his death in 2003, Uganda's ex-president Idi Amin spent more than two decades in exile in the oil-rich kingdom, kept away from politics and the media.

Saudi Arabia, whose law allows for political asylum in public interest cases, also granted asylum to ex-Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted by Pervez Musharraf and sent into exile in 2000 before returning in 2007.....

But the kingdom's decision to house the embattled leader, in power for more than 23 years, sparked angry condemnation among many in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere....."

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