Saudi condemns second Shiite protester to death

A Saudi court sentenced to death a Shiite protester convicted of attacking police forces during unrest in the east, local media reported today, in the second such ruling this week.
Scores of Shiites are on trial in Saudi Arabia after they were detained for involvement in anti-regime protests staged in the oil-rich Eastern Province since February 2011.
The court yesterday convicted the man of "causing sedition, rioting, carrying arms, targeting security patrols with petrol bombs, and attacking forces and government and private installations" in the Shiite village of Awamiya, local media said.
Activists identified the defendant as Ali Mohammed Baqir al-Nimr, a 20-year-old detained since "nearly 30 months."

"Aged 17 at the time of his arrest, he was placed in a minors detention centre before being transferred to prison" for trial in a special terrorism court, an activist said, citing Nimr's father.
A Saudi court on Monday handed the first such heavy sentence to a Shiite protester over similar charges.

It was unclear if there were police casualties in the attacks for which the two Shiites were found guilty.
Demonstrations in Eastern Province, where most of the kingdom's two million Shiites live, erupted in 2011 alongside a Shiite-led protest movement in neighbouring Bahrain.
They turned violent in 2012 and clashes between police and protesters have so far killed 24 people, including at least four policemen, according to activists.

In January, the US embassy warned its citizens against travel to Awamiya after gunmen opened fire on the car of two German diplomats, who escaped unhurt.
Of more than 950 people arrested in Eastern Province for involvement in the Arab Spring-inspired unrest, 217 are still being held.