12 May 2012

Saudi king dismisses conservative adviser

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has dismissed a controversial ultraconservative adviser after he publicly criticized reforms aimed at easing restrictions on women, the kingdom's state media reports.

Sheik Abdul-Mohsen al-Obeikan had told a local radio station that officials were working to Westernize and secularize the country's laws by "legalizing taboos."

"This situation is a very dangerous one that is linked to schemes by influential people to corrupt Muslim society by removing women from their natural position," he said in remarks recently broadcast on the station UFM. [Associated Press] Read more