Nadhir al-Majid

“Saudi authorities have arrested over 160 peaceful dissidents in violation of international human rights law since February 2011,” HRW said in a statement.

It called on “the interior minister, Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud, to order the immediate release of peaceful dissidents, including Nadhir al-Majid, a writer and teacher arrested on April 17.”

Most of the arrests were in Eastern Province, where the Shiite minority has been holding protests calling for political reforms and the release of prisoners.

HRW slammed Saudi Arabia’s western allies, especially the European Union and the United States, for not taking a harder line over the conservative Gulf kingdom’s arrest of dissidents.

“As the list of Saudi political prisoners grows longer, the silence of the US and the EU becomes more deafening,” Christoph Wilcke, a senior Middle East researcher at HRW, said in the statement.

A saudi source close to the Foreign Minister Saud Al Faisal rejected reports regarding his February 09 visit to Germany. There were claims that Saudi Al Faisal was in Germany as an intermediate for the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, in order to find a “secure exist” strategy, so that the President can get the necessary medical treatment in Germany.

Saud Al Faisal will meet Angela Mirkel and reaffirm Saudi Arabia’s position regarding the events taking place in Egypt. Al Faisal wants the European Union to play a greater role in stabilizing Egypt, in order to protect the legitimacy of President Mubarak, until new, free and fair elections take place in November.

Faisal will also talk about the situation in Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan, Tunis and Iran’s nuclear program.