Saudi Repression is not news in the West

"An Edmonton imam was assaulted and arrested early Sunday morning while on a pilgrimage in the Saudi Arabian city of Medina, a witness says.  Usama Al-Atar, a prominent Islamic scholar and post-doctoral fellow at the University of Alberta chemistry department, was leading a group of 10 pilgrims in prayer at a religious burial site in Medina when a group of Saudi religious police began to harass the group, said Michael Hayward, who witnessed the incident.  Al-Atar was injured and arrested during the incident, which has stunned the Shiite Muslim community in Edmonton where the popular scholar regularly lectures and teaches Sunday school." (thanks Sumayah)