British, US Makkah pilgrims demand torture inquiry

By: Nabil Raza

LONDON, United Kingdom: Eight British and American Shias who were detained and tortured by the Saudi 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 Holy Kaaba in the holy city of Makkah, when Saudi police interrupted them and called them infidels.

The police noticed the group was praying in the Shia manner.

Amir Taqi, the 23-year-old son of Ridha Jawad Taqi, is a senior Iraqi lawmaker in the country's biggest Shiite political party.

Speaking at a London news conference, Amir Taqi, One of the eight pilgrims, said: "We were handcuffed and savagely beaten with sticks, chairs, belts, shoes and police communication devices".

He said the men were denied food, water and access to toilets.

The seven Britons and one American produced photographs of injuries they said police inflicted on them. Images included bruising and spots of blood on one group member's head and cuts and bleeding from another's arm.

A senior Saudi security official denied that religious police assaulted a group of Iraqis on a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

Sayed Mohammed Jawad Al-Qazwini, a 26-year-old American also of Iraqi origin, told The Associated Press that police taunted the group as cowards when they refused to respond to provocation.

"You'll be killed and thrown to the dogs, and no one will ever know where you are," Jawad quoted police as telling them after they were detained.   

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British Momineen beaten by Saudi police in Holy Makkah LONDON, United Kingdom: A group of Shias who traveled from Britain to carryout a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia were beaten at the Great Mosque (Kaba) in Makkah and detained only to be released a day later.