Shiite Pilgrims Demand Torture Inquiry

The Religion of Peace once again proves itself to be a religion of intolerance and barbarity, even against it's own.

Friday August 10, 2007 11:16 PM By ROMINA SPINA Associated Press Writer

FROM THE GARDIAN.CO.UK:

LONDON (AP) - Eight British and American Shiite Muslims who said they were detained and tortured by religious police during a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia called Friday for compensation and a full inquiry.
Group members, some of Iraqi descent and aged between 16 and 26, said they were visiting the Kaaba, the cube-shaped shrine in the holy city of Mecca that pilgrims circle, when Saudi police interrupted them and called them infidels.
The police noticed the group was praying in the Shiite manner, which differs slightly from the Sunni style, the accusers said. Saudi Arabia's official strict Wahhabi version of Sunni Islam considers Shiites heretics.
Many in Saudi Arabia are particularly suspicious of Iraq's Shiites, believing they discriminate against the country's Sunni minority and are too closely linked to Shiite-majority Iran.
One of the eight is Amir Taqi, the 23-year-old son of Ridha Jawad Taqi, a senior Iraqi lawmaker in the country's biggest Shiite political party.
``We were handcuffed and savagely beaten with sticks, chairs, belts, shoes and police communication devices,'' Amir Taqi told a London news conference. He said the men were denied food, water and access to toilets.
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