Ahl-ul-Bayt (AS) World Assembly Slams Saudi Arrest of Shia Cleric

Saudi regime’s security forces in the al-Ahsa region of Eastern Province earlier this week arrested prominent Shia cleric Ayatollah Hussein al-Radhi over his anti-regime comments as Riyadh continues its crackdown on the Shia Muslims.

The detention came after the senior cleric wrote an article in which he criticized the House of Saud for jailing and executing critics and dissidents, including Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr who was beheaded in January.

Al-Radi had also infuriated the monarchy by denouncing the ongoing deadly Saudi airstrikes which have claimed lives of more than 8,000 civilians in Yemen.

The Ahl-ul-Bayt (AS) World Assembly in its statement called on the world community and rights bodies to take every necessary measure to secure Ayatollah al-Radhi’s release.

The statement also underlined that the Riyadh regime cannot silence people’s protests against its crimes.

Saudi Arabia has been denounced by rights groups for its grave human rights abuses and harsh crackdown on all forms of dissent.

The Shia-dominated Eastern Province has been the scene of peaceful demonstrations since February 2011.

Protesters have been demanding reforms, freedom of expression and the release of political prisoners. They want an end to economic and religious discrimination against the region.

Shia Muslims have long complained of entrenched discrimination in a country where the semi-official Wahhabi school condones violence against them.

They face abuse from Wahhabi clerics, rarely get permits for places of worship and seldom get senior public sector jobs. Shia religious centers have also been target of a series of terror attacks across the region over the past few months.

Those basic complaints have over the years been aggravated by what residents across the Shia-majority call a heavy-handed security measures against their community

They accuse the authorities of unfair detentions and punishments, shooting unarmed protesters and torturing suspects.

/SR