Saudi King appoints first woman to council in reshuffle

A woman has been appointed for the first time to Saudi Arabia's governing council as part of a widespread restructuring of the government by King Abdullah, it was reported on Saturday.

Noor Al Fayez has been given a place on the Saudi Council of Ministers. She will serve in a new position as deputy minister for women's education, said Dubai's Al Arabiya television station, quoting Saudi state televison.

King Abdullah's overhaul also saw the central bank governor Hamad Saud Al Sayyari replaced by his deputy, Muhammad Al Jasser, according to state-run Al Ekhbariya television.

Sayyari had been at the helm of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), the kingdom's central bank, since 1983 when he was appointed acting governor before being confirmed at the post two years later.

Finance Minister Ibrahim al-Assaf said Jasser's appointment would not lead to a change of policy. "I don't expect that (change) ... There will be continuity," Assaf told al-Arabiya television.

Jasser's experience as the Saudi representative at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will give him a better understanding of the growing expectations the world has of Saudi Arabia in the global economic crisis, said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at HSBC's Saudi subsidiary.

"He is one of the best representatives that Saudi Arabia has to speak to the outside world, he knows the mechanisms of the IMF and the World bank," Sfakianakis said.

"Jasser will maintain the consistency of the Saudi central bank because this is the characteristic of Saudi Arabia ... You take a long-term view," he added.

Under Sayyari, the world's largest oil exporter pegged its riyal currency to the U.S. dollar in 1986 and opted for a conservative policy on investing its cash surpluses.

Commenting on the appointment of Al Fayez, editor-in-chief of Arab News, an English-language daily newspaper in Saudi Arabia, Khaled Al Maeena, said: "People are very excited about this. This sends a clear signal that the King means business. Instead of appointing some bureaucrat, he appointed a woman."  The reshuffle has not affected either of the key ministries of oil or finance, official sources said.

The monarch also appointed Abdul Aziz Khoja, who was ambassador to Lebanon, as information minister, replacing Iyad bin Amin Madani, the television reported, quoting decrees by the King.

Western diplomats say Madani was a strong advocate of reforms in the kingdom.

Clerics had often attacked Madani for allowing the local press to take greater liberty in challenging the strong influence of the religious establishment.

Saleh bin Humaid, who was speaker of the advisory Shura Council, was appointed head of the Supreme Judiciary Court and was replaced by the outgoing justice minister, Abdullah Al Sheikh, reported Reuters.

In another major change, Abdullah sacked hardliner Sheikh Ibrahim al-Ghaith, the head of the Muttawa religious police, seen by many Saudis as a force opposed to some of the liberalisations proposed under his regime.

Under Ghaith, the Muttawa, who enforce Saudi Arabia's strict-but-eroding Islamic social mores, such as complete separation of unrelated members of the opposite sexes and Saudi women shrouding themselves completely in black while in public, have been widely feared.

Ghaith was replaced by Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Humain, who quickly gave notice of changes to come.

"We will try to be close to the heart of every citizen. Their concerns are ours," Humain told Al-Arabiya news channel.