Saudi’s using same methods used in Bahrain to crackdown, repress at home

Saudi regime forces raid home, arrest citizens
18 March, 2013 – PressTV

Saudi regime forces have arrested dozens of prominent figures in the kingdom in a two-day period as Riyadh intensifies its campaign of terror on dissidents.

According to reports, security forces raided homes and offices across the capital city of Riyadh, detaining a number of religious scholars, doctors, professors, students and civil workers.

Regime forces also launched similar crackdowns in the kingdom’s Eastern Province and the cities of Mecca and Jeddah.

Reports further indicated that Sheikh Mohammad al-Atiyah and Sheikh Badr al-Taleb, two prominent Shia clerics were also among those detained.

Earlier in the day, Saudis took to the streets in the central city of Buraidah to once again demand the release of political prisoners, despite a protest ban by Al Saud regime on demonstrations.

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.

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 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.

According to Human Rights Watch, the Saudi regime “routinely represses expression critical of the government.” …source