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Saudi opposition party says founding member assassinated in Beirut’s southern suburbs

Monday, 11 July 2022 1:33 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 11 July 2022 1:37 PM ]

Manea al-Yami, deceased Saudi dissident and founding member of the opposition movement National Assembly Party (NAAS) (Photo via Twitter)

A Saudi opposition party says one of its founding members has been killed in the suburbs of the Lebanese capital city of Beirut, and two of his brothers were arrested in connection with the incident.

The National Assembly Party (NAAS), composed of dissidents exiled in Britain, the United States and elsewhere, said in a social media post on Sunday that Manea al-Yami was slain in “complicated circumstances.”

“Upon the news of the assassination, the party has been trying to verify its details and motives,” the statement said.

“The party also holds the Saudi authorities responsible for exposing the people of this country to danger, forcing them to live in exile, and reside in unsafe environments because of their political beliefs or their demands for human rights,” it added.

عاجل - أغتيال العضو المؤسس في الحزب، مانع آل مهذل اليامي

ينعي #حزب_التجمع_الوطني أحد أعضائه المؤسسين مانع بن حمد آل مهذل اليامي والذي تم اغتياله في ظروف شائكة يوم أمس السبت في لبنان، ويعزّي أسرة الفقيد ومحبيه ورفاقه داخل الحزب وخارجه. pic.twitter.com/KQ9ozU2Czo
— حزب التجمع الوطني (@The_NAAS) July 10, 2022

A statement by Lebanon's Internal Security Forces claimed that Yami’s two brothers stabbed him to death in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh on Saturday evening.

The two brothers are in custody and admitted they murdered the 42-year-old Saudi dissident due to “family reasons,” the statement noted.

The Saudi ambassador to Lebanon, Waleed al-Bukhari, praised the Lebanese authorities' efforts "to uncover the facts and bring the perpetrators to justice" in a post on Twitter.

Yami helped establish NAAS in September 2020. The opposition party is headquartered in London. It is critical of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman as well as the House of Saud and calls for an elected parliament in Saudi Arabia.

The group has also advocated for constitutional safeguards to ensure separation of the legislative, judicial and executive branches.

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Saudi forces have reportedly arrested a number of people in Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich and Shia-populated Eastern Province.

Yahya Assiri, another founding member of NASS, said Yami was “generally worried” about being harmed, “but he wouldn’t specify from who.”

“His activism was done in an undisclosed manner, and (he) was a core member of the party,” Assiri added.

Assiri highlighted that Yami, a member of the Saudi Shia Muslim community, had been trying to secure safe passage to a third country.

Ever since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman became Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader in 2017, the kingdom has ramped up arrests of activists, bloggers, intellectuals, and others perceived as political opponents, showing almost zero tolerance for dissent even in the face of international condemnations.

Muslim scholars have been executed and women’s rights campaigners have been put behind bars and tortured as freedoms of expression, association, and belief continue to be denied.

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Saudi Arabia Middle East Lebanon Beirut King Salman crackdown Opposition assassination Mohammed bin Salman NAAS Political dissident National Assembly Party Manea al-Yami Dahiyeh House of Saud