Saudi protesters slam arrests of women

Mon Jul 1, 2013 09:44:18

Saudi demonstrators have held rallies to condemn the regime’s detention of women and political prisoners.

Protesters in the city of Buraidah, the capital of Al-Qassim Province in north central Saudi Arabia, blasted the interior ministry for nabbing Saudi women who had held similar protests against political detentions by the conservatives system. 

Also, demonstrators in Al-Jouf province marched against women’s imprisonment and chanted slogans against the practice.

Meanwhile, in Qatif, a city in the Eastern Province, protesters blasted the Riyadh regime for its severe crackdown on dissent in Saudi Arabia.

On March 1, Saudi security forces arrested over 300 protesters, including 15 women, after hundreds of people gathered outside the investigation and prosecution bureau in Buraidah to demand the release of political prisoners.

The kingdom, hit by anti-regime protests, has intensified its campaign of terror and crackdown against dissidents.

Activists said Saudi regime forces arrested dozens of prominent figures, including two Shia clerics Sheikh Mohammad al-Atiyah and Sheikh Badr al-Taleb, during the two-day period of March 17 and 18.

Since February 2011, demonstrators have held anti-regime protest rallies on an almost regular basis in Saudi Arabia, mainly in the Qatif region and the town of Awamiyah in Eastern Province, primarily calling for the release of all political prisoners, freedom of expression and assembly, and an end to widespread discrimination.

However, the demonstrations have turned into protests against the repressive Al Saud regime, especially after November 2011, when Saudi security forces killed five protesters and injured many others in the province.

Saudi activists say there are thousands of political prisoners, mostly prisoners of conscience, in jails across the Kingdom.

Some of the detainees are reported to be held without trial for more than 16 years. Attempting to incite the public against the government and the allegiance to foreign entities are usually the ready-made charges against dissidents.

In Saudi Arabia, protests and political gatherings of any kind are prohibited.

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