Iran cleric details inhumane Saudi acts

Thu Jan 6, 2011

An Iranian cleric has criticized Saudi Arabia for infringing upon his rights when he was detained and imprisoned over outlandish charges while on Hajj pilgrimage.

Yasser Khalili was arrested by a Saudi committee for promotion of virtue and prohibition of vice on the charge of “raising a shoe in front of the shrine of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH),” the cleric, who appeared on an edition of Press TV's “Face to Face” program, said.

I spent 38 days in jail before I was put on trial on September 3rd 2010, and “was sentenced to five months in prison and 150 lashes,” Khalili added.

Khalili said the Saudi government's refusal to grant him access to a lawyer is a breach of international law.

“All 140 pilgrims in our caravan were all clergies. The Saudi government was aware that this caravan was a special one. Our hotel manager told us to be careful because the hotel was under surveillance,” Khalili explained.

The Iranian cleric added that prisoners were treated differently according to their faith and nationality.

“In Saudi Arabia, Shias are not entitled to have ownership rights. Shias do not have any important jobs.”

Khalili wrote a letter to the judge “about the huge population of Sunnis living in Iran and that we have no problems with each other. We live together. Shias and Sunnis marry each other. They work together.”

“I wrote to him not to think of me as Sunni or Shia. Think of me as a human being. All human beings have some fundamental rights.”

In answer to a question about the charge against him, Khalili said, “From the way the Saudi authorities acted when they read the charges against me, I could tell they were not familiar with such a charge.”

“They had special shackles and handcuffs. They put them on your hands and feet so tightly. Apart from the physical pain, there was a lot of psychological pressure on me. They just wanted to humiliate me and make me feel cheap.”

The Iranian cleric was released after 115 days in prison and receiving the 150 whip lashes in the jail.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158975.html.