Welcome words and cautious optimism

we see the Saudis recognise other faiths on Saudi soil? Will women gain equal rights? Is funding of militant propaganda going to stop?

We must wait and see if a reforming prince can drag Saudi society, medieval in outlook, into the 21st Century.

Dr Simon Ross Valentine is the author of Force & Fanaticism: Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia and Beyond, Hurst & Co, 2015. cautious optimism. Prince Mohammed represents a reform movement that has seen the ban on women driving cars in public places lifted and more open dialogue with the West.

The prince’s comments raise questions: Will BETWEEN 2011 and 2014 I lived in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In that time I witnessed the execution of a man for fornication, rigid gender segregation in public places and the religious police hitting a woman because her bare ankles were showing.

According to Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, all that is going to change. Such claims are to be welcomed with