The moves came after days of protests outside the embassy and Saudi consulates in Alexandria and Suez over the arrest of an Egyptian lawyer in Saudi Arabia this month. The Saudi news agency, citing an “official source,” said that the recall of the ambassador and the closings were the result of “unjustified demonstrations” and “hostile slogans,” and what the news agency said were attempts to “storm” the embassy.
Egyptian state media reported that the leader of Egypt’s ruling military council, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, contacted the Saudi government and was working “to contain the situation in the light of the fraternal and historic relations between the two countries.”
The diplomatic dispute underscored the increasing willingness of Egyptian activists to assert muscular foreign policy demands, as well as to repudiate alliances cultivated over decades without public approval by autocratic rulers.
And for many of the protesters, the case of the lawyer, Ahmed el-Gizawy, highlighted the uneasy relationship between Egypt and the Persian Gulf monarchies, where thousands of Egyptians and other expatriates find work under a system of sponsorship that severely limits their rights. The reliance on financial remittances and other aid from those states has made other countries reluctant to complain about harsh treatment.
Mr. Gizawy, a human rights activist, was campaigning against abuses of Egyptian workers in Saudi Arabia, according to a statement posted on the Web site of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights. The group said that he had filed a lawsuit against the Saudi government in connection with the “detention and torture” of Egyptian citizens.
His wife told the Egyptian media that Mr. Gizawy was arrested when he arrived in the Saudi city of Jidda on April 17, while making a religious pilgrimage. There were conflicting accounts about the reason for his arrest. The human rights group said he had previously been sentenced in absentia to a year in prison and a public flogging on charges of insulting the Saudi king.
Saudi officials said he was arrested for smuggling prescription drugs into the country, Reuters reported.
On Saturday night, more than 100 officers from Egypt’s Central Security Force ringed the Saudi Embassy, a stately three-story villa in the Giza neighborhood. The protests had all but died down by nightfall, and traffic moved smoothly past.
Some of the remaining protesters said they had not set out to close the embassy, but rather to highlight the plight of Egyptian prisoners in Saudi Arabia. Nevertheless, they took the ambassador’s surprising departure as a victory.
“Goodbye,” said Bilal al-Sayyed, a 20-year-old student, smiling. “See you later.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/world ... egypt.html
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Emphasis:
This is a positive development. It means Egypt is gonna be assertive in the future.The diplomatic dispute underscored the increasing willingness of Egyptian activists to assert muscular foreign policy demands, as well as to repudiate alliances cultivated over decades without public approval by autocratic rulers.
Saudi Arabia should stop the detention and torture of Egyptians.
