RNA – Reports coming out of Saudi Arabia say that the Saudi kingdom has been searching for a number of citizens suspected of involvement in anti-government protest in the Eastern Province, where a substantial number of the country’s Shi’ite Muslim minority live.
Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman General Mansour Turki on Saturday said that security forces shot and wounded Bassem Ali al-Qudaihi when they tried to arrest him in the town of al-Awamiya. “He was transferred to hospital for treatment and the necessary medical attention,” state news agency SPA quoted Turki as saying.
The Arabic-language Okaz daily later reported: “General Turki told Okaz that Qudaihi, who was taken into custody in a security operation in the town of Awamiya in the Qatif province the night before last, had died at the hospital where he had been taken, due to his injuries...”
This is while General Turki had admitted that Qudaihi was not on a list of 23 Shi’ite Muslims it published in 2012 as being wanted for involvement in unrest that has led to shootings and protests in recent years.
“But he represents one of the most dangerous people wanted by security authorities in the town of Awamiya,” Turki said, according to SPA, adding that Qudaihi had been found in procession of a pistol. “Apart from leading attacks on vehicles and security positions in the town (Awamiya), he led terrorist activities, recruiting the young and training them in the use of (fire) arms and participating in riots and terrorising the peaceful and shooting at security men,” he said.
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