Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia

The Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia (MIRA), a U.K.-based Saudi oppositionist organization headed by Dr. Sa'ad Al-Faqih, who has been a key figure in the reform movement in Saudi Arabia since the Persian Gulf War. According to Dr. al-Faqih, "[the] MIRA office in London is the information and media centre of the movement rather than the leadership." The Movement of Islamic Reforms was established in London in April 1996, and its aim, along with that of the Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights (CDLR), which seemed to be a front for Hizb ut-Tahrir and Mohammad al-Massari, is to change the ruling system from a monarchy to an Islamic one using political means.^[1]

According to a 2005 US State Department report on human rights in Saudi Arabia, MIRA was founded in 1996 as a splinter of the Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights, both of which "continued to advocate overthrowing the [Saudi] monarchy by force." The report adds, "In December 2004 police arrested 21 persons for taking part in Jeddah in an antigovernment protest sponsored by MIRA, whose leader, Sa'ad al-Faqih, was a supporter of international terrorism."^[1]

References

1. US State Dept. report which mentions MIRA and al-Faqih

External links

• An interview with Sa'ad Al-Faqih 2003
• Jamestown Foundation interview 2005
• Asia Times interview 2006
• Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia