FEMALE SHI'A ACTIVIST: PRESSURE FOR REFORM MUST

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RIYADH 001380

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DHAHRAN SENDS
PARIS FOR ZEYA, LONDON FOR TSOU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/05/2016
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL PINR KIRF KWMN SA
SUBJECT: FEMALE SHI'A ACTIVIST: PRESSURE FOR REFORM MUST
COME FROM WITHIN AND WITHOUT

REF: RIYADH 710 (NOTAL)

Classified By: Acting Consul General W. David Speidel for reasons 1.4 (
b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: Aliya Al-Fareed (protect),longtime Shi'a
political activist, discussed the state of reform in Saudi
Arabia with PAO and PolOff in her home in Al-Safwa near
Qatif. Al-Fareed was recently appointed to the National
Society for Human Rights; she is the only woman among the
five members from the Eastern Province. An author of several
books about the status of the Shi'a and of women in Saudi
Arabia, Al-Fareed said that change is slow, and that
prospects for reform would improve with more international
pressure. End summary.

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"YOU'RE IN RIYADH NOW"
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2. (C) Aliya Al-Fareed was appointed four months ago to the
National Society for Human Rights, a non-government
organization established by the late King Fahd (reftel). "The
five members from the Eastern Province (EP) are very active,"
she told PAO and PolOff on March 1, 2006. The members include
Jafer al Shayyab, an elected member of the municipal council
in Qatif, and Mohammed Al-Jubran from Al-Ahsa. The group is
about to officially open a branch office in Dammam, to handle
human rights issues in the Eastern Province.


3. (C) Al-Fareed is the only woman appointed from the EP,
and was among eight women who attended the latest national
meeting in Riyadh. "When I walked through the front door the
man told me to go over to the women's room. He said 'you're
in Riyadh now, you can't sit with the men'. But really, how
can we work on human rights together if we can't even sit
together?" Al-Fareed complained about the situation, and a
few minutes later the women were invited to join the men.


4. (C) While supportive of the principles of the National
Society for Human Rights, Al-Fareed said that the
organization is very reluctant to push for change in certain
areas. Addressing the problems of family violence and child
abuse is acceptable, she said, but anything related to the
Shi'a is not. "We work with the possible," she said. (Note:
A recent court case will test the Society's willingness and
ability to advocate for Shi'a rights. In an Al-Khobar court,
a Sunni judge refused to allow a Shi'a, Ala' Ameen Al Sadah,
to be a witness to a marriage contract. Al-Sadah has asked
Al-Fareed to have the National Society for Human Rights raise
the issue with the government. She passed the complaint on
to the sub-committee in Riyadh, which will make the decision
whether to address the issue or not. Post will check with
Al-Fareed for developments in this case in the coming months.
End note.)

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LIMITED OPTIONS FOR WOMEN IN THE WORKFORCE
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5. (C) Al-Fareed is a published author, investigative
reporter, and writes regularly for her internet site:
www.alyafarid.com. She runs a charity organization to help
handicapped children, funded by her husband and wealthy
donors. Nonetheless, she says that she cannot find a job. "So
many of the women in Qatif suffer from the same thing. We are
educated, but we can't find jobs. We just feel stuck." While
agreeing that King Abdullah sounds progressive, she is
reserving judgment as to whether change will happen. "The law
now says that women don't need an agent (wakeel) to do
business. But many people working at the government offices
simply refuse to talk to women. They tell us to go away and
come back with a man." Al-Fareed said that the jobs that have
opened up for women are limited to teaching, nursing, banks
and a few government offices. "But even those jobs," she
said, "are bad; it's like the women are working in a prison,
cut off from everyone else in the building."

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CALLING FOR US COOPERATION
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6. (C) Both Al-Fareed and her husband Yahya Mohammed Al
Quraish, also a political exilee in the 1980s, called for
more U.S. involvement in the Shi'a community in the Eastern
Province. They did not request monetary support, which they
noted would be difficult to legally accept, but rather

RIYADH 00001380 002 OF 002


partnerships with US organizations, visits from US experts,
and greater attention. "Of course reform must come from
within," Al-Fareed said, "but pressure from outside helps us
push from inside."

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BIO-NOTE
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7. (U) Born in 1967, Aliya Al-Fareed has been an active
political reformer since her youth. She was arrested for
four months in 1982 and then fled the country. She spent
twelve years in Iran, Lebanon, Syria, and London, only
returning to Saudi Arabia after the government amnesty for
Shi'a dissidents in 1993. She has a degree in Islamic Studies
from a university in Iran, and has written several books on
social and political issues in Saudi Arabia.

(APPROVED: SPEIDEL)
OBERWETTER