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| Olde Tyme Religion |
| Saudi religious police accused of beating Shias |
| 2007-08-06 |
| RIYADH - Saudi Sunni Muslim religious police assaulted and detained a group of mainly Iraqi Shia pilgrims to Islam’s holy city of Mecca this month, Saudi and Iraqi sources said on Monday. A report on rasid.net, a key news source among Saudi Arabia’s minority Shia Muslims, said religious police surrounded the group as they performed pilgrimage inside the Grand Mosque in Mecca. They called the group “infidels”, then began hitting them. Brown Shirts vs Black Shirts, two front row seats, please. Mecca’s mayor said he had not heard about the incident but that problems were common as hundreds of thousands of pilgrims visit the holy city in the intense summer heat. “Maybe they did something to annoy people in the mosque,” Mayor Osama al-Bar said. “I don’t think it’s because they are Shias or Iraqis. There are about 500,000 people there, it’s very crowded.” The group, which included sons of Iraqi politicians and British and US nationals, were then held in detention for up to 24 hours. Some needed medical treatment, the Web site said. Iraqi parliamentarian Ridda Jawad al-Takki said the group, which included his son, was singled out for being Shia. “They were beaten up because they were holding Shia-style prayers,” he said, adding that his son had been hospitalised in Mecca. Saudi Arabia practices a strict form of Sunni Islam that views Shi’ism as a heresy. Religious police, who often carry sticks, are charged with ensuring Sunni rites and beliefs dominate in the desert country. Saudi Arabia hosts millions of pilgrims year-round in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, where religious police are more tolerant of Muslims of different backgrounds. But tension is high in the region because of sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia Muslims in Iraq. |
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| #3 I need to read these things closer. I thought it said: Saudi religious police accused of BEING Shias heh |
| Posted by: 3dc 2007-08-06 18:02 |
| #2 They was bangin they heads on the ground the wrong way Zen. One guy was even banging his head in his buddie's lap. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2007-08-06 16:49 |
| #1 Whassamatter? Did they use the wrong size truncheon? Forgot to complete the specified number of sets and reps? Didn't finish with a swift kick to the head? |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-08-06 14:12 |