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| Arabia |
| Saudi police make more Shia arrests |
| 2009-03-23 |
| Saudi Arabia has arrested eleven Shia Muslims for protesting the police's violent attempts at hunting down an outspoken Shia cleric. On Sunday, the police captured the Shias who had organized a vigil in the Eastern Province's town of Awwamiyya, voicing concern over the law enforcement's drive in search for cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqer Al-Nimr, Reuters reported. The cleric has been on the force's wanted list for accusing the Sunni authorities of suppressing the Shia minority and urging the independence of the province's Shia-dominated Qatif region from the rest of the country. "Our dignity is being held, and if it's not let free, we will examine other options, and any legitimate option will be examined," he has been quoted as saying in an internet posting. "We saw with our own eyes how the dissension forces beat up women. Where's the dignity? Where's justice?" Nimr said in a reference to last months' police crackdown on Shia demonstrations in the holy city of Medina. The Medina uprising had been provoked by the police's killing, wounding or arrest of the Shia pilgrims who had sought to enter the Baqi cemetery. The Wahabbists, notorious for extreme intolerance, bar women from entering the burial ground which buries many of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)'s relatives and companions. Shia minorities, as well, accuse the Wahhabists of using their political influence to oppress the Shia minority -- roughly 10 to 15 percent of the population. In response to the allegations, however, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdel Aziz said earlier in the month that "we completely reject the clash of sects in our country. We believe that all citizens have equal rights and duties," "There are foreign parties who seek to cause (an) escalation (between Sunni and Shia), but we are able (...) to prevent any interference in the internal affairs of the country," he added according to Middle East Online. |
| Posted by:Fred |