There has been much debate over whether Abdullah’s formal succession to the throne will allow reform to begin its progression in Saudi Arabia; a task that no doubt has odds generated by entrenched totalitarianism stacked against it. A move that looks promising, and is hopefully an indication of things to come, is that Abdullah just pardoned high-profile reformists who were jailed simply for their dissent.

JEDDAH, 9 August 2005 ???????? In a day of dramatic developments and in a show of magnanimity, King Abdullah just seven days into his reign, pardoned three jailed high-profile reformists and a group of Libyans who had plotted to assassinate him.

???????Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has issued an order to pardon and release the following prisoners: Abdullah Al-Hamid, Matrouk Al-Faleh, Ali Al-Damini and Saeed ibn Zaeer, who are serving jail sentences, as well as Abdul Rahman Al-Lahem, whose case is still in the court,??????? Interior Minister Prince Naif said, and praised the king????????s kind gesture.

The news brought relief and tears of joy to the families of the reformists.

???????I can????????t tell you my feeling right now, it????????s incredible!??????? said Ammer Al-Faleh, the son of Matrouk Al-Faleh, in a phone interview.

???????We are extremely happy. We knew that it was coming, but we were not 100 percent sure until we heard it officially announced on TV at 9:30 p.m. tonight,??????? he explained. ???????They might be coming home tonight or tomorrow, we????????re not sure yet.???????

The reformists had been sentenced on May 15 to jail terms ranging from six to nine years for sowing dissent and disobeying the ruler.

Their lawyer Al-Lahem, who was arrested last December, had never been sentenced by a court but had been held in jail since then.

Reaction from Saudis was overwhelmingly positive, with all those interviewed saying that King Abdullah had lived up to his reputation of being a staunch supporter of reforms and of being close to the people.

Abdullah also pardoned several Libyans accused of plotting an assassination attempt against him. John Burgess, the resident blogosphere expert on Saudi Arabia, is very surprised at the pace in which these pardons came. He discusses both the pardons of the reformers and of the assassination plotters.

King Abdullah is signalling reform more promptly than I????????d guessed. I expected the reformers to be pardoned at the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, when many prisoners receive them. That it????????s coming only seven days since he became king strongly suggests that he is intent on pushing reform.

We need to watch closely what happens next. I anticipate action on women????????s rights, whether in a flat declaration that they will take part in the next municipal elections, that they be appointed to the Shoura Council, or that new doors be opened to them in employment. Their driving is still too divisive and issue, I think, because it has become so public.

The King also pardoned five Libyans who had been convicted of attempting his assassination earlier this year. The news report is not clear if the eight Saudis involved were also freed. This is being seen as a sign that the King wants good diplomatic relations across the Arab world, even with Libya, which has been problematic for the kingdom for decades.

Hopefully, as I said before, this will be the beginning of a greater trend. Another article the John comments on is one that says women will be allowed to vote in municipal elections next cycle. This was the general presupposition, but it seems to be coming into reality more and more. As he notes, the monarchy is taking steps to provide greater liberties for women very slowly, , but the atmosphere suggests that such reforms are being promoted more than before. The real problem for Abdullah, if he really is intent on reform, will be doing so while discrediting radical Wahhabism as an ideology while cutting off its funding.

This will be the hardest step of all, as most of the funding comes from within the monarchy itself as a means to appease the radical elements of society. A lot of this funding comes from the security apparatus of the defense and internal ministries, where billions of dollars flow without a paper trail. So, perhaps, the best way to start reforming Saudi society would be to start with the monarchy itself — a defunct system that actually breeds and grows the people who want to destroy it and all civilization together.