Ghazi al-Gosaibi obituary

The Saudi diplomat and poet Ghazi al-Gosaibi, who has died of stomach cancer aged 70, reflected the fierce dilemmas that challenge Saudi Arabian society. He was a moderniser hated by militant Islamists, but his liberal reforms were often blocked by conservatives within the House of Saud. He inspired reform-minded Saudis to stem chronic corruption and combat increasing Islamic militancy, but faced problems at every step.

His huge personal wealth empowered his status as a reformer. Some saw him as a possible prime minister. His friend Crown Prince Abdullah became king in 2005 (Abdullah had been effective ruler from 1996) and brought much-needed reforms. Gosaibi had been part of a select group of commoner technocrats in the 1970s seeking to modernise the kingdom. His poetry cautiously targeted Arab leaders:

Our words are dead

like the tyrant's conscience.

We dream of a world free of chains

Rising from our paralysed pens.

As minister of health in 1984, he insisted that tendering for regional hospitals be carried out correctly. However, King Fahd's association with Rafik Hariri's company Saudi Oger, a bidder, saw Gosaibi sidelined. He was forced to step down and was sent for eight years as ambassador to Bahrain, where he had family roots. Blocked from reaching King Fahd by fawning courtiers, and knowing that the king scoured the newspapers each morning, he wrote a plaintive poem, A Pen Bought and Sold, for the king, which he sent to the newspaper al-Jazeera. The editor sought the advice of a senior prince, who was rumoured also to be bidding for the hospitals. The prince advised the newspaper to publish. The poem was given the front page and caused a major scandal. Gosaibi only learned that he had been sacked when he read in al-Jazeera that "he had resigned because he was unhappy with his contract". He had written in his poem to the king, expressing his sense of hurt and betrayal:

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Married to a German woman, Gosaibi was popular in the west, and served as ambassador to Britain from 1992 to 2002. In Saudi Arabia he fought for women's rights, but failed to win their right to drive, a highly symbolic issue. He attacked Islamist militants in his many books of non-fiction, his novels and poetry. He gave his views on Osama bin Laden in a speech at Westminster University in 2002. "Listening to him," he said, "in some of his rambling interviews, I had the impression of a madman who thought he had defeated one superpower and was about to defeat the remaining superpower.

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Source : 'http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/24/ghazi-algosaibi-obituary'