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The 'Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights' (CDLR; Arabic: لجنة الدفاع عن الحقوق الشرعية) is a Saudi dissident group created in 1993.
Founded in Riyadh by six scholars, the Committee protested political policy through an Islamic critique that advocated greater individual rights. The organization was banned, and its members either left Saudi Arabia or went underground.
In 1994, it was reestablished in London, England led by Mohammad al-Massari. The group used Internet websites to criticize the ruling family and insisted that Islamic teachings should not support the status quo political setup.
Today CDLR is an extremist Muslim organization (or individual) posing as a civil rights advocacy group. The US State Deparment's report^[1] on human rights in Saudi Arabia in 2000, dated 23 February 2001, reads in part

In 1996 internal divisions within the CDLR led to the creation of the rival Islamic Reform Movement (IRM), headed by Sa'ad Al-Faqih. Al-Masari expressed the CDLR's "understanding" of two fatal terrorist bombings of U.S. military facilities in 1995 and 1996 and sympathy for the perpetrators. The IRM implicitly condoned the two terrorist attacks as well, arguing that they were a natural outgrowth of a political system that does not tolerate peaceful dissent.

In its 2005 report^[2], CDLR is described as an extremist organization which seeks the overthrow of the Saudi monarchy by force.
Although blacklisted in the US and many EU countries, the CDLR does not appear on any US or UN list of terrorist groups.

Contents

References

Reading List

External Links

References

1. Saudi Arabia: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices -- 2000, US Department of State
2. Saudi Arabia: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices -- 2004, US Department of State

Reading List

★ Holier Than Thou: Saudi Arabia's Islamic Opposition (Man and Poet Series), Teitelbaum, Joshua, , , Brookings Institution,U.S., , ISBN 0944029353

External Links

★ Asia Times Online - The dangers of silencing Saudi dissent Jan 21st 2005

★ Human Rights Watch - Human Rights in Saudi Arabia: A Deafening Silence December 2001

★ Meria - State, Islam and Opposition in Saudi Arabia - July 1997

★ The Washington Institute: Holier Than Thou executive summary