Usama Al-Atar is seen in this undated photo.Updated: Sun Oct. 30 2011 14:28:48
CTVNews.ca Staff
A Canadian imam who studies cancer research at the University of Alberta was beaten and arrested by Saudi religious police while reciting prayers in Medina, according to witnesses.CTVNews.ca Staff
Usama Al-Atar was attending hajj with an international group of pilgrims early Sunday when witnesses said he was confronted by about 10 to 15 officers from the country's religious police force.
Observers said the officers beat him without provocation, chasing and choking him in front of more than 200 witnesses. The officers then reportedly took him into custody without explanation.
At the time, the 33-year-old imam was leading a prayer service as part of a global pilgrimage with a group of Canadian, British and American citizens.
British citizen Michael Hayward witnessed the incident and said the trouble began when Saudi religious police took issue with their recital of a prayer at a prominent cemetery near the Mosque of the Prophet.
The group was asked to leave the cemetery, Hayward said, but the situation escalated as they made their way across the courtyard of the nearby mosque.
At one point a member of the religious police began calling Al-Atar a thief in Arabic, he said, and that led to Al-Atar being swarmed by a group of people.
"He virtually choked, we could see him go black and blue," Hayward said. "We're absolutely still in shock."
Al-Atar has been accused of attacking Saudi religious police and remains in police custody, witnesses said.
"He didn't touch anybody. It's just trumped up charges to be quite frank," Hayward said. "The religious police were the ones who were creating all the trouble."
In a statement to CTV News, Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs said it was aware that a Canadian had been arrested in Medina.
"The Canadian Embassy in Riyadh has been notified and our officials stand ready to provide consular assistance as required," a spokesperson said.
Meanwhile the U.K.-based Islamic Human Rights Commission is lobbying for Al-Atar's release. Its chairman, Massoud Shadjareh, said he is "quite concerned" about what will happen to Al-Atar.
That's partly because the Saudi regime is sensitive to the possibility of an uprising erupting during the first hajj since the Arab Spring, he said. As a result, the government has been acting heavy-handedly on a range of issues.
Speaking from London, Shadjareh also noted that Saudi religious police base their practices on a "very narrow interpretation of Islam" and that they "become very oppressive" toward those who practice other interpretations.
"That seemed to be triggering the issue" in Al-Atar's case, he said.
Shadjareh also said it was a shame there are no Canadian diplomats on the ground in Medina. If the Canadian government doesn't act quickly, he cautioned that the case "could drag on for a very long time."
Al-Atar is an academic originally from the Iraqi city of Karbala, according to the imam's website. His research on cancer and diabetes has taken him from California to Vancouver and has been widely published.
He is also the founder of Active Muslim Youth of British Columbia (AMYBC), a not-for-profit organization aimed at teaching youth about Islam.
The renowned imam's website indicates that he started reciting the Qur'an professionally at age 14 and about five years later started receiving requests to recite the book in front of audiences.
"When my children ask me about what I did when I saw people getting killed and oppressed, I do not want to tell them that I stood silently," Al-Atar said in March 2011 speech condemning violence in Bahrain.
Canadian pilgrims travelling to the Saudi religious destinations of Jeddah, Mecca and Medina require hajj or umrah visas, according to Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT). Non-Muslims are barred from visiting Mecca or Medina.
The Saudi religious police are known as the Mutawa and are tasked with enforcing the country's system of Sharia law.
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