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.

Ms Rice made her criticisms in a speech in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

"Throughout the Middle East the fear of free choices can no longer justify the denial of liberty," she said.

"It is time to abandon the excuses that are made to avoid the hard work of democracy."

'Brave citizens'

In her Cairo speech, during which she also criticized Egypt's political record, the US secretary of state spoke of "three individuals... imprisoned for peacefully petitioning their government".

She was referring to three activists - Ali al-Demaini, Abdullah al-Hamed and Matruk al-Faleh - sentenced to between six and nine years in prison in May on charges of demanding a constitutional monarchy.

She also praised "brave citizens" in Saudi Arabia who demanded "accountable government".

Speaking at a news conference after midnight, Prince Saud said the "assessment that is important for any country in the development of its political reform" was "the judgment of its own people".

As for the dissidents, he added: "The government cannot interfere until the court action is taken in this regard."

PHOTO CAPTION

President George W Bush and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah