Saudi Arabia Withdraws Ambassador From Egypt, SPA Reports
By Zaid Sabah – Apr 28, 2012 4:18 PM GMT+0100
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-28/saudi-arabia-withdraws-ambassador-from-egypt-spa-reports-1-.html
Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador to Egypt and temporarily closed its embassy in Cairo after what it called “unjustified” protests.
The consulates in Alexandria and Suez will also be closed, the official Saudi Press Agency said, citing an unidentified government official. The protesters attempted to storm the embassy, threatening the staff, and raised slogans in the protests that violated diplomatic sovereignty, SPA said.
Dozens of Egyptians demonstrated outside Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Cairo on April 24 demanding the release of Ahmed el- Gizawy, a human rights activist and lawyer. Saudi authorities detained him earlier this month upon arrival in Jeddah on the Red Sea coast. The kingdom’s Ministry of Interior said the lawyer was arrested trying to smuggle anti-anxiety tablets into the country.
The arrest has fueled complaints by activists on social media about the treatment of Egyptians in Saudi Arabia. Egypt’s Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr has asked the Egyptian embassy in Riyadh to act quickly to learn the details of the case of el-Gizawy and to “work to ensure his release,” the Middle East News Agency said on April 24.
