The House of Saud had a very muted public reaction to Condi Rice’s criticism of their apartheid society, but we can only imagine what they’re saying in their tents: Saudis dismiss Rice’s criticism.

Saudi Arabia has played down an appeal by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for democratic reform and the release of three political prisoners.

Ms Rice made the call before arriving in Riyadh to meet de facto Saudi ruler Crown Prince Abdullah and the foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal.

Prince Saud said afterwards that a country’s own people were best placed to determine how it should reform.

The dissidents, he added, were in the hands of the court, not the government.