AL-HASA SHI'A WELCOME U.S. INTERVENTION IN IRAQ,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RIYADH 000042

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DHAHRAN SENDS
PARIS FOR ZEYA, LONDON FOR TSOU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/03/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM PTER KISL SA KIFR
SUBJECT: AL-HASA SHI'A WELCOME U.S. INTERVENTION IN IRAQ,
SEEK IMPROVEMENTS AT HOME

Classified by Acting Consul General Ramin Asgard for reasons
1.4 (b) and (d).

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Summary
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1. (C) Members of the Shi'a community in Al-Hasa welcomed
U.S. intervention in Iraq, saying an almost unqualified
"thank you" during lunch with Acting CG and PolOff. Although
noting some progress in the SAG's campaign against home-grown
terrorism, they said that the government's campaign for
tolerance had yet to change the negative feelings many Saudi
Sunnis had toward Shi'a. The Shi'a religious figures present
at lunch exhibited a diversity of ties to Shi'a clerics and
institutions in Iraq and Iran but stressed that these ties
were religious, not political, in nature. End summary.


2. (SBU) Hussein Ali Al-Ali, a prominent Hasawi businessman
and chairman of the Hussein Al-Ali Establishment
conglomerate, invited Acting CG and PolOff to his house in
Hufuf for lunch on December 28 to meet members of Al-Hasa's
Shi'a community. Al-Hasa is one of the two largest centers
of the Saudi Shi'a population in the Eastern Province (EP),
the other being Qatif. Al-Hasa's 800,000 residents, slightly
less than half of whom are Shi'a, live in small cities,
towns, and villages scattered throughout Al-Hasa, Saudi
Arabia's largest oasis. Lunch guests included businessmen,
the vice president and secretary general of Al-Hasa's
municipal council, and local Shi'a religious figures and
activists. The Shi'a clerics were accorded places of honor
by the other attendees during the lunch.

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Iraq: "Thank You"
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3. (C) At least three guests said "we thank you" to acting
CG and PolOff in reference to U.S. intervention in Iraq.
Sheikh Hashem Al-Sayyid Mohammad Al-Salman, head of Al-Hasa's
"hawza", the only Shi'ite religious school permitted in Saudi
Arabia; Sheikh Adel Bu Khamsin; and Sadek Al-Jubran, a lawyer
and activist who was (and may still be) an associate of
Hassan Al-Saffar, all noted that the opening up of Iraq, the
introduction of democracy, and the freedom now enjoyed by the
Iraqi Shi'a represented very positive developments. While
many of our Qatifi Shi'a contacts have qualified their
support for U.S. intervention in Iraq with reference to the
ongoing violence, the only qualification in this group came
from Bu Khamsin: "What is preventing the U.S. from making
the same demands of Saudi Arabia? Is it your interest in
oil?"

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Challenges at Home
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4. (C) As Bu Khamsin's question indicates, our interlocutors
were unhappy with the degree of freedom and acceptance
accorded to the Saudi Shi'a. Noting that extremist ideology
was still endemic in schools, books, and ministries such as
the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Islamic
Affairs, Al-Jubran said that an intensive "national project"
was needed to rid Saudi Arabia of this ideology. While
acknowledging that the SAG was making progress on the
security front in killing or capturing terrorists, Al-Jubran
argued that its ideological campaign against extremism was
falling short. Efforts like the National Dialogue, he said,
"reach only the cream of society." While accepting that
programs like "Experiments in the Name of Jihad," a series
shown on Saudi TV that features interviews with returned
"jihadis" and discussion intended to show how misguided and
deceived the jihadis were, were well intentioned, Al-Jubran
commented, "But who watches Saudi TV? Maybe the government
produced it to convince you, the Americans, how committed it
is to fighting terrorism." Al-Salman made reference to the
struggle faced by the Saudi Shi'a to gain equal treatment by
the SAG less directly, recounting his long, frustrating, but
ultimately successful efforts in petitioning the government
to allow the hawza, which has 350 students (including 100
female students),to move from cramped quarters in a mosque
to a new building. He welcomed a visit by ConOffs to the
hawza as long as we received permission from the proper
authorities.


5. (C) Several lunch guests had chosen to take active roles
in two new institutions to begin to address important
grievances, though not necessarily grievances specific to the
Shi'a community. Abdul Aziz Al-Bahrani, an elected member of
the Al-Hasa municipal council recently selected by its
members as the council's vice-president, discussed the need
for greater development of the Al-Hasa area (to be reported
septel),while Mohammad Al-Jubran, brother of Sadeq
Al-Jubran, spoke of his appointment to the EP branch of the
National Human Rights Association. The branch will open
formally in several weeks, Al-Jubran explained, but will
accept petitions and complaints for investigation and/or
referral to the Association's headquarters in Riyadh even
before its formal opening. PolOff noted that other contacts
had expressed skepticism that the association, given its
affiliation with the SAG, would actually be able to
accomplish anything. "It is important to advance awareness
of human rights and bring abuses to the government's
attention," Al-Jubran replied, indicating that he intended to
see if the association could be one vehicle to achieve these
goals. (Note: Another member of the EP branch is Jafar
Al-Shayeb, a Shi'ite activist from Qatif. End note.)

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A Network of Religious Ties Abroad
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6. (C) Each person we asked confirmed that the majority of
the Shi'a of Al-Hasa, like the Shi'a of Qatif, follow
Ayatollah Sistani as their "marja'", or religious authority,
with the rest following a variety of other figures, mainly in
Iraq or Iran. Bu Khamsin noted that the institution of the
marja' was based on doctrine and teachings, not the
geographic location of the marja'. All of the religious
figures present at lunch had studied abroad, in Najaf
(especially the older ones),Qom, Karbala (less frequently),
or some combination of the three. In response to PolOffs's
question about the nature of the ties between Saudi Shi'a and
Iran, Al-Salman stressed that the ties were "religious in
nature, not political." He said that he did not see evidence
of Iran trying to influence the Saudi Shi'a as it had in the
early 1980s when it attempted to export its revolutionary
doctrine. "They have to take charge of their own affairs
right now," he continued, "and that is enough to keep them
busy." He concluded by saying that the Saudi Shi'a were
seeking their full rights and equal treatment as Saudi
citizens, nothing more.

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Comment
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7. (C) This trip was our first large-scale foray into the
Shi'a community in Al-Hasa. The Hasawi Shi'a have a
reputation for being less activist than their counterparts in
Qatif, but they clearly have organizational networks,
particularly religious ones, and share many of the same
perspectives and grievances as the Qatifi Shi'a. In
addition, some community leaders have chosen, as they have in
Qatif, to use new Saudi institutions, such as the municipal
councils and the National Human Rights Association, to
promote their agendas. We will follow closely the experience
of the Shi'a, both Hasawi and Qatifi, with these institutions
as a measure both of how much power and autonomy the SAG is
willing to grant the institutions and how satisfied our Shi'a
interlocutors are with these avenues of participation. End
comment.

(APPROVED: ASGARD)
OBERWETTER