Saudi Activists Face Long Fight for Human Rights

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DAMMAM, Saudi Arabia -- In this oil-rich desert kingdom where public beheading, flogging and stoning remain punishments, Ibrahim Al-Mugaiteeb has his work cut out.

He's been imprisoned and barred from travel for condemning human rights abuses. Yet the president of the independent Human Rights First Society won't be quiet.

"My youngest grandchild is 3 years old," he says. "She deserves to live in a better Saudi Arabia.

"They can throw me in jail, they can shoot me, but I cannot stop my activity. There are no human rights here."

Slight openings in this closed society have encouraged some Saudis. The news media are freer to report on official …