DIPLOMACY

Saudi Arabia Closes Egyptian Embassy

After protests for detained human-rights lawyer.

Saudi Arabia has decided to shutter its embassy in Cairo temporarily after days of protests by Egyptians against the detention of lawyer Ahmed el-Gizawy. The human-rights activist is being held in Saudi Arabia for allegedly smuggling anti-anxiety tablets into the country. The Muslim Brotherhood has come out in support of the protests, saying in a statement that the Egyptian protesters were “merely expressing the Egyptian people’s aspiration to preserve the dignity of their fellow citizens who visit, live, or work in Arab countries.” Ruler Hosni Mubarak was regularly criticized before being forced out of office for truckling to powerful Gulf nations at the expense of Egyptians abroad.