Dubai, UAE - Some 300 members of Saudi Arabia's Ismaili community, an offshoot of the Shiite branch of Islam, rallied in the southern city of Najran Tuesday in protest at "repression" by authorities, one of the protesters said.
The protest, a rare occurrence in the kingdom, was held near the city's airport amid a heavy security presence but dispersed peacefully after around four hours, said Said al-Yami by telephone.
He said the protesters demanded an end to the "pressures" on their community and the release of 30 people jailed since unrest broke out in the Najran region six years ago.
They also pressed for an apology from a cleric and judge from the dominant Sunni Wahhabi community who recently labeled the Ismailis "infidels," he said.
A statement by organizers accused local authorities in Najran of seeking to seize lands from Ismailis in order to settle Yemeni tribesmen who were given Saudi citizenship in them.
Those Yemenis are Sunnis, Yami said.
A number of people -- 120 according to Yami -- were arrested and jailed for their involvement in trouble in Najran in 2000 when a Saudi security officer died and several others were injured.
According to the authorities three foreigners were also hurt during unrest which followed the arrest of a Yemeni "sorcerer" practising black magic in Najran.
According to witnesses in Najran, close to the Yemeni border, hundreds of Ismailis took to the streets to protest against Saudi religious police closing one of their mosques.
In December 2002, authorities said that King Fahd pardoned an unspecified number of Ismailis sentenced to prison for their role in the unrest after halving the jail terms of 70 of them.
He also commuted the death sentences of 17 others to 10 years in jail.
Diplomats estimate that tens of thousands of Ismailis live in the kingdom's mountainous southwestern region which was controlled by Yemen until the start of the 20th century.
The Najran Ismailis known as Makarima are a separate branch of the broader Shiite sect and do not follow the Aga Khan who heads the mainstream Ismailis scattered across the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and central Asia.