Pilgrims accuse Saudi religious police, want trial

[Amelia]

Pilgrims accuse Saudi religious police, want trial

Saturday August 11, 2007

Reuters Limited

LONDON (Reuters) - A group of British and U.S. Shi'ite Muslims said on Friday the Saudi religious police they accuse of beating them in the holy city of Mecca should be put on trial abroad.

The eight male pilgrims, all of Iraqi descent, said they were beaten and detained overnight on Sunday by the Saudi Mutawa'a, or religious police, because of their nationalities and the fact they were holding Shi'ite-style prayers.

Saudi embassy officials were not immediately available for comment. Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq al-Awsat quoted Ghazi al-Usaimi, deputy police chief at Mecca's Grand Mosque, on Thursday as denying any truth to reports about the incident.

Tension is high in the region because of sectarian violence between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims in Iraq. Saudi Arabia, which practises a strict form of Sunni Islam, is uncomfortable with the rise of a Shi'ite majority to power in Iraq.

Iraq's defeat of Saudi Arabia in the final of the Asian Cup soccer competition has heightened anti-Shi'ite feeling.

An Iraqi parliamentarian told Reuters earlier this week that sons of Iraqi politicians were among the group.

At a news conference in London, the group of Shi'ite pilgrims called on the religious police to apologise and pay compensation. They said those responsible should be handed over and tried for violating human rights.

"While in police custody we were handcuffed and savagely beaten with chairs, bats, sticks, shoes and police radio communication devices," 24-year-old pilgrim Amir Taki said.

He said they were refused food, water, medicine and access to toilets. One was told they would be "killed and thrown to the dogs".

The group, aged between 16 to 26, said they were not allowed to contact their embassies or relatives.

However, using a cell phone hidden by one of the pilgrims, they were able to contact family members and were released after intervention from the embassies.

A spokesman for the pilgrims said they would support a trial at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Many clerics in Saudi Arabia, which sees itself as the leader of Sunni Islam, view Shi'ism as a heresy. Religious police, who are often armed with sticks, are charged with ensuring Sunni rites and beliefs dominate in the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia's Shi'ite minority say they are treated like second-class citizens in the country.

The incident is the latest of a series of scandals involving the Saudi religious police after two Saudis died in their custody this year, prompting calls by Saudi liberals for the autonomous force to be disbanded.