By Steve Kimble
The Council of Senior Scholars in Saudi Arabia, which is made up of top clerics of the country, yesterday condemned as un-Islamic calls for demonstrations and petitions demanding reforms in the desert kingdom. The senior clerics made the remarks a day after authorities warned against protests.

The Council charged that "reform and advice do not take place through demonstrations and methods that fan sedition," in a statement carried by state news agency SPA. The 10-strong council is headed by the mufti of Saudi Arabia. The Council made the statement as cyber-activists in the Kingdom call for demonstrations on March 11 and 2, calling for change in the ultra-conservative country.

"The council stresses that demonstrations are prohibited in this country, and that the Islamic way of realizing common interest is by offering advice," it said. The council also denounced recent petition addressed to King Abdullah by intellectuals and rights activists, which called for change of the country from the absolute monarchy into a constitutional kingdom. "Reform and advice are the Islamic way and would carry benefits and prevent evil, and that does not happen through intimidating and seditious statements on which signatures are collected," it said.

The council called upon the authorities to "do their job in line with the law of the land." Earlier on Saturday, the interior ministry had said that any kind of demonstration is considered illegal in Saudi Arabia. Several hundred Shiites protested in Eastern Province on Friday, demanding the release of an arrested Shiite cleric, Sheikh Tawfiq al-Aamer and other Shiite detainees.