Relatives of political detainees held a small protest in Riyadh Wednesday night, photos and videos posted to social media sites showed. The protest took place inside Sahara Mall in the northern part of the Saudi capital. The videos below show men marching inside the mall as they chant a hadeeth by the Prophet that says “release the distressed.”
The account @e3teqal on Twitter, which identifies itself as a coordinator for the activities of illegal detention victims in Saudi Arabia, posted a number of photos purporting to show the protest:
(1) بعض الصور الأولية لتجمع أهالي الأسرى (#رجب16) http://t.co/u6tHN6OG
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اعتقال (@e3teqal) June 06, 2012(2) بعض الصور الأولية لتجمع أهالي الأسرى (#رجب16) http://t.co/GV0rhJgS
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اعتقال (@e3teqal) June 06, 2012(3) بعض الصور الأولية لتجمع أهالي الأسرى (#رجب16) http://t.co/t7HTlNVR
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اعتقال (@e3teqal) June 06, 2012(4) بعض الصور الأولية لتجمع أهالي الأسرى (#رجب16) http://t.co/Exa3trI9
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اعتقال (@e3teqal) June 06, 2012(5) بعض الصور الأولية لتجمع أهالي الأسرى (#رجب16) http://t.co/MBs5s7yU
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اعتقال (@e3teqal) June 06, 2012
UPDATE 6/7/2012 1:10: Mohammad al-Abdulaziz said on Twitter that his brother and his family (wife and three children) have been arrested. It is said that more people have been arrested.
@EbtihalMubarak أخي وزوجته وأولاده الثلاثة .. ولا أعرف أحد غيرهم وبالتأكيد هناك آخرين
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محمد العبدالعزيز (@_MHD_S) June 06, 2012

2 Comments
release the distressed!!!! I wish you all the very best….
Reblogged this on reflections in the sand and commented:
Malls in Saudi certainly seem the “place to be” these days, especially given the hot summer temperatures and the recent easing of restrictions of who may enter and when. They also may become the venue of choice for public demonstrations against the authorities, as exemplified by a recent protest at the Sahara Mall in Riyadh, which was documented on YouTube, Twitter, and blog posts (see below). Following the protests by university students as well as other isolated incidents, who knows … this may turn out to be an especially long, hot summer for the Saudi authorities.
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[...] has been some news that protestors have been arrested as Saudi Jeans published in his blog post covering the [...]
[...] Saudi activists stage rare protest in RiyadhReviewed by Hanrian on Jun 7Rating: Several dozen Saudis chanted “release the distressed” and “freedom” as they marched throug… Wednesday night in a rare public protest, according to a popular Saudi [...]
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[...] out the full story over at Saudi Jeans, there are loads more videos after the jump: Relatives of political detainees held a small protest [...]