By Ramadan Al-Fatash –
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi authorities have released a prominent blogger after he spent more than a year in detention without charges, relatives said on Saturday.
Nazir al-Majid, 35, was arrested in March last year at a local school where he worked after joining anti-government protests in the mostly Shiite eastern province of Qatif, they added.
“Al-Majid was released on Thursday after arbitrary detention without charges or a trial,” said a family source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Al-Majid, a Shiite writer, is known for tackling issues of religion and freedom in his blogs.
Rights activists last year launched an online campaign for al-Majid’s release after he went on a hunger strike to protest being kept in a solitary confinement.
Human rights groups say more than 160 Saudis are still in detention in connection with protests in Qatif that started early last year.
Qatif, an oil-producing area, has for months been the site of protests by Shiites demanding political reforms from Saudi Arabia’s Sunni rulers.
Earlier this month, Saudi security authorities said two people were killed in Qatif during a protest over the arrest of a prominent cleric.
The Shiites accuse Saudi authorities of discrimination.
Saudi Arabia denies this. It refers to the protesters as “rioters” financed by foreign countries to cause unrest in the world’s top oil exporter.
