RIYADH: A Saudi Arabian prosecutor has demanded the death penalty for a Shia cleric whose arrest last summer triggered deadly protests in the Sunni-ruled kingdom, local media reported yesterday.
Sheikh Nimr Al Nimr, long seen as a radical leader in the Shia minority, appeared in court on Monday for the first time since his arrest in July, the Saudi Gazette reported.
The prosecutor, accusing him of “aiding terrorists” and instigating unrest, said he was guilty of “waging war on God”, a crime in Shariah, or Islamic law, that automatically carries the death penalty, Al Riyadh daily reported.
Saudi Arabia has no written legal code and judges have wide discretion to deliver verdicts based on their interpretation of Shariah and without reference to precedent.
Tension is already running high over this month’s arrest of 16 Shias accused of spying for Riyadh’s regional rival Iran, a charge Tehran denied. Yesterday, 135 Shia religious and community leaders signed a statement to “reject the accusations” and call on the government to release those accused of espionage.
Police and protesters have clashed repeatedly in the past two years in the Eastern Province’s mostly Shia-dominated Qatif area where 16 demonstrators and a security officer have been killed.
The government has attributed all the deaths to exchanges of fire with rioters. Shia activists say police shot the 16 during peaceful demonstrations or during attempted arrests.
Nimr was based in Al Awamiyah, a neighbourhood in Qatif that has been a hotbed of unrest. When he was arrested in July the authorities said he had rammed a police car and possessed weapons. Local Shia activists denied both accusations.
Three demonstrators were killed during protests in the days immediately after Nimr’s arrest.
Early last year the Interior Ministry issued a list of 23 people wanted over the unrest in Qatif, saying they were acting on behalf of an unnamed foreign power, widely seen as Iran.
Nimr was accused of meeting some of these people while they were on the run.
He was also accused of interfering in the internal affairs of Bahrain, separated from Eastern Province by a 25km causeway, where majority Shi’ites have led protests demanding the Sunni ruling family introduce democracy.
Saudi Shias have long complained of persistent discrimination in the kingdom, where the majority follow the rigid Wahhabi school that sees Shiaism as heretical. The authorities deny charges of discrimination.
Last week 37 Saudi Shia leaders signed a statement accusing the government of using the spy ring allegation to stir sectarian tensions and distract Sunnis from demands for reform.
Yesterday’s statement repeated that sentiment, adding “we assure our affiliation to this nation and our commitment for its unity”.
This month a Sunni cleric urged the government to free suspected Islamist militants and improve public services or risk street protests. Saudi Arabia has escaped the popular uprisings that have swept some other Arab states in the past two years.
Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign ministry has strongly protested against a Saudi accusation that it was directly linked to an alleged spy cell busted last week in the kingdom, Iranian media reported yesterday.
Saudi Arabia’s interior ministry said on Tuesday that the cell it dismantled last week had “direct links” to Iran’s intelligence services. The charge d’affaires was summoned after “the publication of the baseless claim by Saudi Arabia,” the Mehr news agency reported, citing a foreign ministry statement.
In the meeting with the unnamed Saudi diplomat, the Iranian authorities “completely rejected the accusations” and also expressed “their strong protest,” it added.
On March 19, the interior ministry in Riyadh said authorities had arrested 16 Saudis, an Iranian and a Lebanese citizen in four regions including Eastern Province, where the Sunni-ruled kingdom’s Shia minority is concentrated.
reuters/AFP
