Saudi King Appoints More Liberal Head of Religious Police

The Wall Street Journal reports that on Friday, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud took steps to liberalize the country's religious police by placing a new person in charge of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. The king replaced hard-liner Sheik Abdulaziz al-Humain with Sheik Abdulatif al-Sheikh. The new appointee has a history of opposing child marriage, and of defending women's right to work and mix with men in public places.