(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - "A statement from the interior ministry said that three of those wanted for inciting unrest in the Eastern Province have surrendered themselves to security authorities, while two others have been detained," state television said.
On Monday, the government of the world's No. 1 oil exporter ordered the arrest of the 23 who it said were responsible for unrest that has led to shootings and protests in recent weeks.
The Wahhabi Extremists-ruled kingdom accused the wanted men of serving the agenda of a foreign power, usually a reference to its Shi'ite rival Iran which Riyadh sees as fomenting sectarian unrest to destabilise the region.
An earlier interior ministry statement on Monday said some of them had criminal records, held illicit weapons, obstructed traffic and tried to incite unrest.
The only significant protests to hit Saudi Arabia, the Middle East's largest economy, during the Arab uprisings were among Shi'ites in Eastern Province, where small demonstrations persisted throughout 2011.
Saudi Shi'ites complain of widespread discrimination, which they say prevents them from gaining good government jobs, reduces state investment in their neighborhoods and leads to closures of Shi'ite centers of worship.
The last official Saudi figures showed there were fewer than one million Shi'ites in Eastern Province out of a total 3 million people, but a 2006 Human Rights Watch report put the number of Shi'ites there at 3 million and a 2008 U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks estimated the Shi'ite population at 2.5 million.
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