Amman: Saudi authorities are to release a Jordanian reform activist held since the beginning of the year in a case that drew concern from human rights groups, the foreign ministry in Amman said Thursday.
“Saudi authorities told us that Khalid Al Natur will return to Jordan, most likely on Sunday,” ministry spokesman Sabah Al Rifai said.
Natur, a 27-year-old website developer and reform activist, was detained on January 6 when he and four associates arrived at Riyadh airport on a business trip, Amnesty International said.
The other four “were told they would risk a similar fate if they did not leave the airport immediately,” the London-based watchdog said.
Amnesty said Natur had been arrested inside Jordan last year near the Saudi consulate in Amman for insulting a security officer during a protest “against Saudi Arabia’s involvement in Bahrain.”
Bahraini security forces, backed by Saudi and other Arab troops, put down a month-long pro-democracy protest in March 2011.
