CAIRO: Egypt has asked Saudi Arabia to say why it arrested an Egyptian rights lawyer and activist on arrival at Jeddah airport, the foreign ministry said on Monday.
 
It said in a statement that Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr was himself closely following the case of the detention of Ahmed Mohammed al-Gizawi, who was arrested by Saudi police last Tuesday.
 
An Egyptian rights group said Gizawi had gone to Saudi Arabia to perform the omra, a minor pilgrimage to Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina.
 
Saudi Arabia has cracked down on shows of dissent similar to those that led to mass uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, among other countries in the region.