RIYADH -- King Fahd has appointed an imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Sheikh Saleh bin Hameed, as Speaker of Saudi Arabia's consultative Shura Council, the official SPA news agency reported Friday.

Bin Hameed succeeds Sheikh Mohammad bin Jubair, who died last month aged 76 after serving in the post since the council was inaugurated by the Saudi monarch in 1993.

Like his predecessor, Bin Hameed is a prominent member of the influential religious establishment in the oil-rich kingdom.

Bin Hameed was born in 1950 in Buraida, capital of Al-Qassim Province, a hotbed of Wahhabism, a fundamentalist movement predominant in Saudi Arabia.

The new speaker has a doctorate in sharia, or Islamic law. He is a member of several Islamic bodies and authorities, including the senior ulema (scholars) council and the international Islamic relief foundation.

Bin Hameed has been a critic of the perceived Western media campaign against Saudi Arabia, which has focused on the kingdom's Islamic-orientated education system.

In his last Friday sermon at the Grand Mosque, Islam's holiest shrine, on January 4, Bin Hameed slammed the west as "arrogant," charging that it thrives on humiliating and subjugating other nations.

"The world needs the formulation of a merciful policy that promotes ethics, fairness and justice ... a policy that abolishes weapons used to sow destruction ... and ends all forms of colonialism and domination," he said.

The Shura Council was inaugurated in 1993 with 60 members appointed by King Fahd. Its membership was expanded to 90 in the second term in 1997 and to 120 in the third term in 2001.