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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/activists-2013-dark-saudi-rights-162544589.html
Activists say 2013 dark year for Saudi rights
Associated Press
By AYA BATRAWY 3 hours ago
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) ? With global attention focused on upheaval elsewhere in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia quietly intensified its clampdown on dissent in 2013, silencing democracy advocates and human rights defenders with arrests, trials and intimidation in what reformists say was one of the darkest years ever for their efforts in the powerful U.S.-allied Gulf state.
The clampdown reflects the highly delicate times that the world's top oil producer is passing through.
The monarchy is trying to modernize the country's economy to reduce its reliance on oil revenues and create a more diverse private sector to provide jobs for a grumbling population. To manage the shifts, activists say it has manipulated the divisions in Saudi society, playing on tribal sentiments and shifting between Saudis who seek a more liberal lifestyle and the ultraconservative Wahhabi clerics who traditionally give the royal family legitimacy...
Activists say 2013 dark year for Saudi rights
Associated Press
By AYA BATRAWY 3 hours ago
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) ? With global attention focused on upheaval elsewhere in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia quietly intensified its clampdown on dissent in 2013, silencing democracy advocates and human rights defenders with arrests, trials and intimidation in what reformists say was one of the darkest years ever for their efforts in the powerful U.S.-allied Gulf state.
The clampdown reflects the highly delicate times that the world's top oil producer is passing through.
The monarchy is trying to modernize the country's economy to reduce its reliance on oil revenues and create a more diverse private sector to provide jobs for a grumbling population. To manage the shifts, activists say it has manipulated the divisions in Saudi society, playing on tribal sentiments and shifting between Saudis who seek a more liberal lifestyle and the ultraconservative Wahhabi clerics who traditionally give the royal family legitimacy...