Saudi Arabia arrests prominent cleric: social media

Discover Thomson Reuters Directory of sites Login Contact Support Canada deported hundreds to war-torn countries: government data U.S. denies Iran report of confrontation with U.S. vessel Syria army, U.S.-backed forces converge on Islamic State in separate offensives North Korea's Kim Jong Un fetes nuclear scientists, holds celebration bash #World NewsSeptember 11, 2017 / 8:06 AM / Updated 5 hours ago Saudi Arabia arrests prominent cleric: social media Reuters Staff 3 Min Read DUBAI (Reuters) - A prominent Saudi religious leader has been arrested, according to social media postings on Sunday, in what appears to be a crackdown on Islamists seen as critics of the conservative kingdom’s absolute rulers. Sheikh Salman al-Awdah, an influential cleric who was imprisoned from 1994-99 for agitating for political change and has 14 million followers on Twitter, appears to have been detained over the weekend, the posting suggested. In one of his last postings on Twitter, he welcomed a report on Friday suggesting that a three-month-old row between Qatar and four Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia may be resolved. “May God harmonize between their hearts for the good of their people,” Awdah said on Twitter after a report of a telephone call between Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss ways to resolve the rift which began in June. Hopes for a breakthrough were quickly dashed when Saudi Arabia suspended any dialogue with Qatar, accusing it of “distorting facts”. Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt accuse Qatar of supporting Islamist militants, a charge Doha denies. Awdah was the second cleric reported detained by Saudi authorities in the past week. Reports on social media said that Awad al-Qarni, another prominent cleric with 2.2 million Twitter followers, was also detained from his home in Abha in southern Saudi Arabia. Like Awdah, Qarni had also expressed support for reconciliation between Arab countries and Qatar. Saudi officials could not immediately be reached for a comment on the reported arrests. The al-Saud family has always regarded Islamist groups as the biggest internal threat to its rule over a country where appeals to religious sentiment can never be lightly dismissed and where Islamist militants have previously targeted the state. A decade ago it fought off an al Qaeda campaign of attacks targeting officials and foreigners that killed hundreds. In the 1990s, the Sahwa (Awakening) movement inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood demanded political reforms that would have weakened the ruling family. Reports of the arrests coincided with widespread speculation, dismissed by officials, that King Salman intends to abdicate in favor of Crown Prince Mohammed. Asked about the reasons for the arrests, a Saudi analyst speculated: “(To) crush the Muslim Brotherhood or scare others if their plan is for him (Crown Prince Mohammed) to be king.” Exiled Saudi opposition activists have called for protests on September 15 intended to galvanize opposition to the royal family. Reporting by Sami Aboudi; Editing by William Maclean and Sandra Maler Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Sponsored Sponsored Sponsored #World NewsSeptember 11, 2017 / 2:02 AM / Updated 11 hours ago Canada deported hundreds to war-torn countries: government data A group of asylum seekers wait to be processed after being escorted from their tent encampment to the Canada Border Services in Lacolle, Quebec, Canada August 11, 2017. REUTERS/Christinne Muschi Anna Mehler Paperny 3 Min Read TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada has deported hundreds of people to countries designated too dangerous for civilians, with more than half of those people being sent back to Iraq, according to government data obtained by Reuters. The spike in deportations comes as Canada faces a record number of migrants and is on track to have the most refugee claims in more than a decade. That has left the country scrambling to cope with the influx of asylum seekers, many crossing the U.S. border illegally. Between January 2014 and Sept. 6, 2017, Canada sent 249 people to 11 countries for which the government had suspended or deferred deportations because of dangers to civilians. That includes 134 people to Iraq, 62 to the Democratic Republic of Congo and 43 to Afghanistan, the data shows. The number of Iraq deportations increased from 22 in 2014 to 51 in 2016 and stands at 35 so far this year. “The decision to remove someone from Canada is not taken lightly,” Canada Border Services Agency spokeswoman Patrizia Giolti wrote in an email. “Everyone ordered removed from Canada is entitled to due process before the law, and all removal orders are subject to various levels of appeal.” The Canada Council for Refugees has said existing avenues of appeal are too limited, leaving little recourse for people facing deportation to dangerous countries. Canada can deport anyone who is not a citizen, for reasons including criminality, exhausting attempts to obtain permanent residency and non-compliance with immigration laws. The federal government has suspension or deferral designations for countries or regions deemed dangerous but may still deport people to them because of criminality, security risks or human rights violations. The United Nations’ High Commission on Refugees recommends states refrain from deporting people to Iraq because of the human rights situation and the conflict there, said Jean-Nicholas Beuze, the organization’s Canadian representative. But some regions, such as Kurdistan, are safer, he added. “The responsibility is on the state sending people back to those countries to make sure ... that those people will not become internally displaced within their own country and dependent on humanitarian aid,” Beuze said. In July, a U.S. judge temporarily blocked the deportation of more than 1,400 Iraqis, many with criminal charges or convictions. They had claimed they would face death or persecution if they return to their home country because they belonged to minority groups, including Chaldean Catholics, Sunni Muslims or Iraqi Kurds. Reporting by Anna Mehler Paperny; Editing by Denny Thomas and Lisa Von Ahn Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. 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