The armed Shia group that abducted Qatari hunters the previous Wednesday demanded that Saudi Arabia release opposition cleric Nimr Baqir Al-Nimr, who was under a death sentence, as a condition for freeing 26 hunters, including a Qatari prince.
Anonymous Iraqi parliamentary sources said the armed group had made Sheikh Al-Nimr’s release a condition of freeing the hunters.
The sources identified one captive as Prince Jassim Fahd Al Thani and said the kidnappers had not declared affiliation with an Iraqi political organization.
Iraq’s Interior Ministry said the hunters had been abducted in the desert around Samawah after moving across wide areas and failing to follow instructions to remain within secured zones. It said the kidnapping sought to damage Iraq’s reputation and suggest that the south was unsafe.
A Saudi court sentenced Al-Nimr to death the previous year on a charge of disobeying the ruler, prompting anger and condemnation in different parts of the world.
Al-Nimr was arrested in July 2012. Charges included inciting sectarian strife, disobeying the ruler, and forming a terrorist cell intended to kill security officers in Awamiyah in Qatif, eastern Saudi Arabia.