Hundreds of Shia citizens were surprised by the intense security presence in the vicinity of two Shia mosques in the eastern Saudi city of Khobar.
Witnesses said that the congregation of large numbers of police ,Criminal Investigation and the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice forces , has prevented them from reaching the mosques for Friday prayers.
The escalation comes after failure of Saudi authorities to obtain a commitment from Mr. Abdullah Muhanna to stop prayers at his house in spite of his detention for a period of four weeks. On Thursday, the authorities failed also to arrest his son to force him to sign the same commitment.
Mr. Muhanna - former mayor of Khobar – is a prominent Shia figure supervising a mosque at his residence place. It is one of three Shia mosques which were closed down on June ,5th 2008 by the Saudi authorities and arrested their three imams namely; Sayyid Hashim Ali al-Naser prayer leader of al-Khobar mosque , Sayyid Mohammad Baqir al-Naser prayer leader of al-Azeziyah mosque and Shaikh Yousif al-Mazeny prayer leader of al-Athoqba mosque.
Shia are not allowed to build mosques because of the reluctance of the authorities to grant them official licenses for construction.
Amnesty International appealed to the Saudi government for the release of Muhanna earlier, declaring him a prisoner of conscience. In reaction to this, the authorities transferred him from the Criminal Investigation detention to the general prison in the province without a formal charge or trial.
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