In an attempt to blunt the force of the demonstrations, Saudi security forces arrested Tawfiq al-Amir, a prominent Shiite cleric from the Eastern Province.
Naji Asaad, a retired journalist who continued working for government-run newspaper Tishreen was shot dead outside his home in Damascus on 4 December and government television journalist Bassel Tawfiq Youssef was killed on 21 November in a suburb of Damascus.