Saudi Arabia's first human rights watchdog agency was established on Tuesday, the most concrete step yet in a slow process of reform which authorities insist must be home-grown and compatible with Islam.
The head of the private group, Abdullah bin Saleh al-Obeid, told AFP after a meeting with Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz that he had received a letter from King Fahd approving the formation of the National Human Rights Association (NHRA).
Abdullah "blessed this move and told us we would receive all the support we need from the sides concerned," Obeid said, a member of the Shura (consultative) Council appointed by King Fahd who heads the new body in a private capacity.
State-run television showed about half of the group's 41 founding members meeting with Abdullah, who effectively governs the oil-rich kingdom due to Fahd's poor health.
The official SPA news agency later released the text of Fahd's letter, the statutes of the new body and a biography of Obeid.
In his letter to Obeid and fellow NHRA founding members, who include 10 women, the Saudi Arabian monarch noted the group's statutes make clear the association will abide by Shariah, or Islamic law.
"Hence, the creation of this association is appropriate, and we wish you success," King Fahd wrote.
Saudi Arabia is often assailed by Western human rights groups for alleged abuses.
The kingdom denies the charges and has announced plans to set up a government rights body, in addition to the private one approved on Tuesday, as part of limited steps toward reform it says must be consistent with Islamic tenets and local customs and not tailored to Western specifications.
Political Science Professor Abdul Khalek Abdul Hay, who took part in the meeting with Abdullah, said the encounter was restricted to male members of the rights body, "but the crown prince is likely to also grant an audience to female members." Abdullah "strongly blesses this move (of setting up the rights body)," Abdul Hay told AFP.
The crown prince has spearheaded the fledgling reform process, which is supposed to lead this year to the first polls in the conservative kingdom to elect half the members of new municipal councils.
The political opening up which has included "national dialogue" sessions among representatives of civil society has been accompanied by steps toward economic liberalisation.
The changes are strongly opposed by ultra-conservatives in the Muslim kingdom, but in their request for official authorisation, the rights group's founders stressed "the importance of public participation in confronting some of the challenges" the country faces.
In its statutes, the NHRA pledges to "strive to protect human rights in accordance with (Saudi Arabia's) basic statutes derived from the Quran and Sunnah ... and with the human rights covenants issued by the Arab League, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and the United Nations."
The 'independent' association will do this in a way that "does not contravene Islamic Shariah," the statutes said.
The group will "stand up against injustice, arbitrariness, violence, torture and intolerance" and will "protect the confidentiality of approaches, requests, complaints, information, files and correspondence."
NHRA will cooperate with the international human rights organisations and seek to ensure that Saudi Arabia "abides by its commitments on human rights issues on the basis of the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam, the UN Charter and international human rights covenants," the statutes said.
Revenues will come from publications, exhibitions, future investments, donations, grants "and any other resources that are not at variance with the association's objectives".
The association, comprising a general assembly and a nine-member executive council, will be based in Riyadh, but can set up branches in other parts of the kingdom and abroad.
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