A leading pro-reformist cleric has been freed after spending eight years in jail without trial in Saudi Arabia, his supporters say. Sheikh Saeed bin Zuair, reportedly Saudi Arabia's longest-serving political prisoner, was released "without conditions", a spokesman for the UK-based Movement for Islamic Reform said.
Is Iraq starting to pay off already?
"[Sheikh Zuair's release] was a surprise decision which we were informed of only an hour beforehand," the cleric's son, Mubarak, told Reuters news agency. Sheikh Zuair was detained in 1995 during a government crackdown on dissidents. Human rights groups say Sheikh Zuair was tortured while he was in jail. Sheikh Zuair was arrested at his home in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, after calling for more democracy in the staunchly conservative kingdom. He was also held for objecting to a religious edict allowing peace with Israel.
Surprised nobody killed him for that one...
The cleric, a former professor at Imam Mohammad bin Saud University in Riyadh, was never charged or never appeared in court. |