Saudi Arabia Feature: An Introduction to the Protests, Prisoners, and Deaths in Qatif (Riyadh Bureau)
Thursday, October 18, 2012 at 7:30Protest in Qatif, September 2012
The grieving mother and sisters of Khaled al-Labad sat at the corner of a small room in their shabby house. Black and white photos of him covered the wall behind them. Al-Labad was killed ten days earlier by security forces outside his house in the restive town of Awwamiya, eastern Saudi Arabia. His relatives pointed to bullet holes in the house’s wall where he was shot dead. Al-Labad’s younger brother, Bader, was arrested.
“Every step I take in this house reminds me of him,” the mother said in a voice full of sorrow.
Al-Labad was one of 23 people wanted by the government for allegedly “damaging public and private property, illegal possession of firearms, shooting at citizens and security forces, using innocent citizens as human shields and attempting to pull them into confrontations with security forces to serve foreign agendas.”