SAUDI ARABIA. SAUDI SETS UP HUMAN RIGHTS WATCHDOG

Saudi Arabia has set up the first government department for monitoring and boosting human rights in the kingdom, a Saudi official statement said.
It said the Custodian of Two Holy Mosques, Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, appointed Turki bin Khaled Al Sudeiri to head the first such official institution, saying he would have minister rank.
Saudi Culture and Information Minister Iyad Madani said earlier the government agreed to create the department for safeguarding human rights and helping spread awareness about individual rights within the context of Islamic law which is applied in the kingdom.
Madani said this department would specialise in giving advise on the issue of human rights
Saudi Arabia’s first non-governmental human rights watchdog was licensed in March last year in a move seen as part of reforms undertaken by the government.