Saudi forces have arrested a prominent Pakistani Shia Muslim cleric in the holy city of Mecca while he was performing the Umrah Hajj (minor pilgrimage).
A Twitter post published on Friday announced that the secretary general of Pakistan’s Shia Ulema (Scholars) Council and a senior official of Islami Tehreek Pakistan (ITP) political party had been detained in the kingdom.
The post did not provide any reasons for Syed Nazir Abbas Taqvi’s arrest; however, he could be seen in a picture holding a flag at the courtyard of the Masjid al-Haram – Islam’s holiest site, bearing the name of Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS), the first Shia Imam, in Arabic.