Saudi police beat us up, say British Shia pilgrims

A group of British and American Muslims on pilgrimage to Mecca say they were illegally detained and brutally beaten by Saudi religious police.

The men, who suffered physical mistreatment as well as verbal abuse during their incarceration, claim they were arrested because they are Shia and Westerners. The Foreign Office is expected to raise the matter with the Saudi government although the authorities in the country say they have already started an investigation.

The eight men were among a group of 35 British and American nationals on a two-week visit to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina when they were arrested. They say the religious police, a powerful force in the Sunni kingdom, waded in after an argument developed between the group and a Sunni worshipper at a shrine. The men, now back in this country, claim the police repeatedly struck them with chair legs, sticks and heavy hand-held radios.

The men were moved between several police stations but were freed after 12 hours, after one of them called his family in Britain using a mobile telephone he had hidden in his clothes, leading to intervention by British and US diplomats.

Amir Taki, a 23-year-old civil servant from London, said: "We were arrested at just after two in the morning. The attack on us was totally unprovoked. We were dragged off to the police station and then beaten up quite savagely. They were saying they would kill us and feed us to the dogs and no one would ever know.

"They were calling us infidels. When we said we were British and American citizens and wanted to speak to our embassies the beating got even worse.

"One of those arrested is a 16-year-old boy. He has an English mother and when the police found out, he was given special treatment with the blows.

"We were denied the most basic human rights. We were given no water or food or medical treatment. Our own medicine, for serious conditions like asthma, was denied to us. Our mobiles were taken away. Luckily they missed one and that's what saved us. It was disgraceful conduct and we demand an apology from the Saudi government."

Mohammed Jawad al-Qazwini, a US citizen, continued: "I think they wanted to send a message to the West and unfortunately we were the means they used to do so. We were targets for two reasons, because we held American passports and because we are Shias.

"They were demanding that we speak in Arabic, but many of us cannot speak the language and we got further beatings for speaking in English.

"We weren't picked on because of anything we had ever said about the Saudi government. We are not political and the police did not even know our identities until they got our documents from our hostel after the arrests. This was simple brutality."

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We are aware of the situation and provided consular services to the people concerned. The Saudi government is aware of the situation and say they have launched an inquiry."

The religious police have a fearsome reputation within Saudi Arabia cracking down on what they consider to be religious dissent. Their victims have included Saudis as well as foreigners.

The assault on the pilgrims is the latest problem involving Britons in the Middle East in the recent past. A Royal Navy party was captured by the Iranians in the Gulf and a British tourist was shot dead in Jordan.

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