RIYADH: Human Rights Watch Tuesday asked the Saudi authorities to release a key rights activist and said a wave of arrests was jeopardizing any hope for reform in the Gulf kingdom.
The watchdog asked the interior minister to immediately release Fadhil Makki al-Manasif, a human rights activist arrested on May 1 for taking part in peaceful demonstrations.
Manasif’s arrest came just two days after Riyadh tightened media laws to further restrict the right to free speech in the kingdom, HRW said in a statement.
“The latest arrests of peaceful dissidents brings the climate for reform in Saudi Arabia to the freezing point,” said Christoph Wilcke, senior Middle East researcher at HRW. “The Saudi ruling family has shown no signs that it might ease its iron grip on the right to express political opinions,” he said.

Last week, Saudi police arrested around 30 activists and bloggers for taking part in Shiite protests in the oil-rich Eastern Province.
That brought to 140 the number detained since the start of protests two months ago to call for the release of nine Shiites who had been in jail for the past 16 years without trial, according to Shiite activists.
HRW said the Al-Saud family rules “as an absolute monarchy” as there are no elections to national institutions and no effective means of popular participation in decision making.
The Shura Council is totally appointed by the king. Men in the kingdom are allowed to elect half of the members of municipal councils.
“The king’s new media decree eviscerates any gains in freedom of expression under his reign,” said Wilcke.
“The ongoing crackdown and the media decree effectively throw the kingdom back to a time when dissent of any sort resulted in arrest.”