SAUDI MONARCH COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCES AGAINST 17 MEN

The men were found guilty of rioting in April 2000 incidents in the kingdom´s southern Najran province, said a statement from the ministry carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. They were sentenced to death while 70 other men were given various jail terms for roles in the riots.
The London-based human rights group Amnesty International said later that hundreds of members of the Ismaili minority sect of Islam were arrested following the riots, which grew out of protests against the closing of an Ismaili mosque by Saudi authorities.
The Saudi monarch cancelled the death sentences after the apologies of the convicts and their families, the statement said. It did not provide further details.
The 17 men are believed to be members of the Yam tribe which embraces the Ismaili Muslim sect, an offshoot of the Shiite sect. The majority of Saudis are Sunnis, the mainstream sect of Islam.
In December 2001, elders of the Yam tribe demanded the release of 93 of its members held by authorities. They said that 17 of the detainees were facing death "for opposing the condition of degradation, repression and humiliation that is practiced against them and their tribesmen by Saudi authorities because of their faith."