clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Saudi authorities arrest Sheikh Nasser Al-Omar in Makkah

August 13, 2018 at 9:02 am

Sheikh Nasser Al-Omar

 The Saudi authorities have arrested renowned cleric, Sheikh Nasser Al-Omar, in Makkah, the Prisoners of Conscience Twitter account said yesterday.

“We confirm the news of the arrest of Shaikh Nasser Al-Omar, a former professor at the Faculty of Fundamentals of Religion at Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, and the suspension of his Twitter account,” the group posted yesterday.

The Saudi authorities called Sheikh Al-Omar in September last year for investigation and asked him not to interfere in or discuss at political issues.

Bin Salman’s attack on Canada is destroying Saudi’s economy

Abdullah Al-Ouda, the son of prominent scholar Salman Al-Ouda who has been held by Saudi authorities for almost a year, said on Twitter that Sheikh aA-Omar was arrested on Tuesday last week in Makkah.

Al-Omar is known for rejecting the US military bases’ presence on Saudi soil.

Saudi Arabia has been waging a wave of mass arrests against prominent scholars, intellectuals and human rights activists since September with the aim of removing opposition to Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s policies, activists have said.

International human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have called on the Saudi authorities to immediately release all detainees, disclose their place of detention and allow them to contact their families and lawyers.