Saudi withdraws ambassador in Cairo

PanARMENIAN.Net - Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador in Cairo Saturday April 28 for security reasons after protests in Egypt against the kingdom's arrest of an Egyptian lawyer, marking a diplomatic rupture between the long-time allies, Reuters reported.

The withdrawal of the Saudi envoy appeared a sharp message to Egypt's rulers of the need to maintain good ties with a Gulf state that last week agreed to send $2.7 billion to support Cairo's battered finances.

Strong ties between Riyadh and Cairo had already been strained by the upheaval in Egypt that overthrew its president Hosni Mubarak, who was close to the Saudi leadership. The rising power of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has also worried many in the Gulf who fear the spread of the Islamist group's influence.

Protests against the April 17 arrest of Ahmed El-Gezawi have grown in recent days, culminating in a demonstration of close to a thousand people at the Saudi embassy in Cairo on Friday during which protesters hurled insults at the kingdom's rulers.

Saudi Arabia's official SPA news agency quoted an unidentified source as saying the protests were unjustified and that attempts had been made to storm the embassy, threatening the safety of its employees.

Activists in Cairo, including Gezawi's wife, said early in the week that the lawyer was detained when he arrived for pilgrimage after being sentenced in absentia to a year in prison and 20 lashes for insulting King Abdullah.

The Saudi embassy on Tuesday denied that version of events and said he had been arrested for possession of more than 21,000 pills of the anxiety drug Xanax, which is banned in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi daily Okaz reported on Saturday that he had smuggled the pills inside bottles of infant milk formula and boxes intended to hold the Koran. It said the case had been referred to the kingdom's prosecution service. In an apparent move to ease public anger, Egypt's state news agency published what it said was a copy of Gezawi's confession.