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Saudi Arabia closed its embassy in Egypt and recalled its ambassador as tensions between the two countries are at their worst in over thirty years. Protestors in Egypt have been gathering at the Saudi embassy for nearly a week, and things escalated so much that Saudis felt the need to close the embassy and bring their ambassador home. Saudi state television says the country pulled their ambassador for "consultations" after "unjustified demonstrations and protests" and "attempts to storm and threaten the security and safety of Saudi and Egyptian employees, raising hostile slogans and violating the inviolability and sovereignty" at the embassies in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez.
Why are they fighting? Ahmed el-Gezawi, an Egyptian lawyer, was detained by Saudi Arabia for allegedly insulting King Abdullah, the nation's monarch. The Saudi government says he wasn't arrested for insulting the King, but for smuggling over a thousand doses of Xanax into Saudi Arabia while on a pilgrimage to Mecca. Egyptians have been protesting for the lawyer's release ever since. The charges for insulting the king stem from a lawsuit filed by el-Gezawi against King Abdullah for the alleged arbitrary detention of thousands of Egyptians. He was convicted in absentia to a year in prison and 20 lashes, but wasn't informed of his conviction before making his trip to Mecca. Egyptians think the drug charges have been trumped up by the Saudi's to try and get back at someone who insulted the King.