Saudi arrests cleric for 'glorifying Hizballah'

A Shia preacher was arrested by Saudi security forces under charges of 'glorifying' Hizballah online, a local newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Hussein al-Radi was arrested in the kingdom's Shia-majority eastern province for posting a video online in which he praises the Lebanese group, just weeks after the Gulf States and Arab League declared Hizballah a terrorist group.

The report, published on Saudi-based al-Watan, said Radi "glorified the terrorist group Hezbollah and insulted the kingdom in a video clip."

He "also broke previous pledges he had made after defending the terrorist Nimr al-Nimr following his execution," it added.

The video shows the preacher speaking at a podium where he openly hails Hizballah General-Secretary, Hassan Nasrallah, calling him a "hero".

The newspaper quoted a security source who said Radi had "continued to incite the public, taking advantage of the mosque platform to breach regulations" despite being warned on a number of occasions.

Nimr al-Nimr, another popular Shia cleric from the eastern province of the kingdom, was executed along with 47 others for terrorism charges earlier this year.

He was the driving force behind an anti-government movement that sparked during the Arab spring period but was arrested and given the death penalty.

The execution triggered a series of events across the Arab world, beginning with a cut in diplomatic ties between Riyadh and Tehran when angry demonstrators stormed the Saudi consulate in response to the execution.