Oppression, rights violations deep-rooted in Saudi Arabia: Iran MP

An Iranian lawmaker says people in Saudi Arabia do not dare to give voice to their demands due to deep-rooted oppression by the Al Saud regime.

“Human rights have been violated in Saudi Arabia for years and the people of this country do not dare to express their demands due to the oppression and persecution by the security apparatus of the Al Saud regime. However, the Saudi Arabian nation has gained new power to express its demands following the wave of Islamic awakening in the region,” Mohammad-Reza Mohseni-Sani said on Thursday.

He went on to say that the Al Saud regime has not only detained intellectual figures, but also arrested the women and children who demanded the release of their family members from the regime’s prisons.

On January 7, Saudi forces in the northern province of Qassim detained dozens of women and children during an anti-regime demonstration in the city of Buraydah.

Amnesty International said on January 9 that according to reports and photos from the protest, these women and children “merely gathered peacefully and held placards bearing their detained relatives’ names and the length of their detention.”

Mohseni-Sani pointed out that the detainees in Saudi Arabia have been jailed and kept in prison for several years without a trial.

“Peaceful protests which have been staged in different areas in Saudi Arabia are being suppressed by the Al Saud security apparatus; however, the organizations which claim to be advocates of human rights have kept a deadly silence,” the Iranian lawmaker added.

Since February 2011, protesters have held demonstrations on an almost regular basis in Saudi Arabia, primarily calling for the release of all political prisoners, freedom of expression and assembly, and an end to widespread discrimination.

However, the demonstrations have turned into protests against the Al Saud regime, especially since November 2011, when security forces killed five protesters and injured many others in the Eastern Province.