(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - A senior Iranian legislator called on those who claim to be an advocate of human rights to defend the Saudi Shiites whose rights have long been trampled by the tyrannical rulers of the Arab country.
A member of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Seyed Baqer Hosseini reminded the Saudi regime's clampdown on the country's Shiite community, and said, "Those who claim to be supporters of human rights should take action against the Saudi regime's disgraceful treatment of the country's Shiites and defend their (Shiites') rights."
He said Saudi Arabia is ruled by reactionary thoughts and norms, and added, "Unfortunately, the Saudi people are deprived of freedom of expression, idea and action and the government makes people do whatever it wants in any possible way and manner."
Hosseini also called on all freedom-seeking nations to condemn the Saudi regime's savage violation of the rights of the people, specially the Shiites.
The Saudi police killed two protesters on Sunday night after thousands of the people took to the streets to protest at the arrest of a prominent Shiite cleric.
Dozens more protesters were wounded during the clashes that erupted when police opened fire to disperse a demonstration against the arrest of Sheikh Nemr al-Nemr, who was attacked in his car upon arrest earlier in the day.
The 53-year-old Nemr called in 2009 for separating the Eastern Province's Shiite-populated Qatif and Al-Ihsaa governorates from Saudi Arabia and uniting them with Shiite-majority Bahrain.
Saudi Arabia's estimated two million Shiites, who frequently complain of marginalization, live mostly in the East, where the vast majority of the OPEC kingpin's huge oil reserves lie, but most people are grappling with poverty and poor living and health conditions.
Also on Sunday, a large number of Saudi people demonstrated in the capital city of Riyadh to demand the release of political prisoners, indicating that popular protests have now spread from the Eastern parts of the country to the other regions, including the capital.
The demonstrators called for the freedom of their relatives who are in different Saudi jails without a fair trial.
The protestors also chanted slogans against the policies of the Saudi regime.
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12 July 2012 - 05:52
News ID: 328543
A senior Iranian legislator called on those who claim to be an advocate of human rights to defend the Saudi Shiites whose rights have long been trampled by the tyrannical rulers of the Arab country.
