Saudi forces raid houses in Shia-majority Qatif region, detain ten young men
Saudi forces have reportedly raided houses in the kingdom’s Shia-majority and oil-rich Eastern Province and arrested nearly a dozen young men from the religious minority.
The Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in the Arabian Peninsula (CDHRAP) said in a statement that Saudi troops onboard armored vehicles stormed residential buildings in Hafar al-Batin city, al-Awamiyah town and Umm al-Hamam village of Qatif region on Monday morning and detained ten youths.
According to Press TV, the rights organization added that the forces took the young men away to an unknown location.
Saudi Arabia has stepped up politically-motivated arrests, prosecution, and conviction of peaceful dissident writers and human rights campaigners, in particular in Eastern Province.
The province has been the scene of peaceful demonstrations since February 2011. Protesters have been demanding reforms, freedom of expression, the release of political prisoners, and an end to economic and religious discrimination against the region.
The protests have been met with a heavy-handed crackdown, with regime forces increasing security measures across the province.
Last month, social media activists reported that Saudi forces had detained prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Hassan al-Khuwailidi amid authorities’ attempts to silence influential religious scholars and press ahead with plans aimed at Westernizing the cultural setting of Saudi Arabia, which is greatly influenced by the Arab and Islamic culture.
Saudi officials sentenced prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Kadhim al-Amri to four years in prison in late December last year.
The Lebanon-based al-Ahed news website reported that the clergyman – who is the son of the late Sheikh Muhammad al-Amri and among distinguished religious figures in the holy city of Medina – received the ruling on December 24.
ME
