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### Viewing cable 08RIYADH121, ASHURA IN THE EP: A TALE OF TWO CITIES

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
08RIYADH121 | 2008-01-30 09:40 | 2011-07-02 00:00 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Riyadh
Appears in these articles: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/06/22/116306/wikileaks-saudi-crackdown-on-shiites.html

`

    VZCZCXRO4773
    PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDIR RUEHKUK
    DE RUEHRH #0121/01 0300940
    ZNY CCCCC ZZH
    P 300940Z JAN 08
    FM AMEMBASSY RIYADH
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7488
    INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
    RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
    RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 0625
    RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 0952
    RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY

` `

    C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 RIYADH 000121

    SIPDIS

    SIPDIS

    DEPT FOR DS/IP/ITA

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/30/2018
    TAGS: KIRF PGOV PHUM PREL SCUL SOCI SA
    SUBJECT: ASHURA IN THE EP: A TALE OF TWO CITIES

    REF: 07 RIYADH 00231

    Classified By: CONSUL GENERAL JOHN KINCANNON FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D
    )

    ¶1. (C) SUMMARY:  Falling on January 19, 2008, this year's
    Ashura commemorations in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia
    continued the trend of the recent past; Qatif-area Shi'a
    enjoyed increased freedom of expression while the Al-Ahsa
    community was strictly forbidden from any public
    commemorations.  With SAG security presence at a minimum,
    Qatifis organized religious events, speeches, plays,
    processions, and sales of Shi'a memorabilia in increased
    quantity.  The festivities attracted record turnout according
    to local observers.  In contrast, on January 5, al-Ahsa
    Governor Badr bin Jiluwi expressly forbade sheikhs in that
    area from organizing any public events.  Authorities in
    al-Ahsa closed down multiple husseiniyyas as a preventative
    measure, while in the predominantly Shi'a village of Rumailah
    a contact reported small clashes between young men throwing
    rocks and police officials that entered the village to remove
    signs associated with the holiday.  Consistent with previous
    years, there were no public Ashura events in the
    Dammam/Khobar/Dhahran metro area.  Useful as a barometer of
    the relationship between the Eastern Province Shi'a
    communities and the SAG, this year's Ashura celebrations
    leave little doubt that a dual policy has taken shape.  END
    SUMMARY.

    --------------------------------------------- ---------
    QATIF COMMEMORATIONS INCREASE IN NUMBER, PARTICIPATION
    --------------------------------------------- ---------

    ¶2. (C) With ConGen Dhahran officers observing Ashura
    activities in person on 8, 9, and 10 Muharram (NOTE: 10
    Muharram is the actual day of Ashura, this year celebrated on
    January 19. END NOTE) it was quickly apparent that the Saudi
    security posture in Qatif was not one of confrontation, but
    rather of compromise and assistance.  On each day, Saudi
    authorities established a checkpoint on the road leading from
    Qatif highway to the center of the city, although security
    checks on cars appeared lax.  The security presence in
    central Qatif on 8 Muharram was overt in the form of between
    5 and 10 Ministry of Interior (MOI) Special Security Force
    police cars and uniformed officers on foot around the edges
    of the approximately square mile area of events.  These
    officers interacted amiably with the crowd, serving as
    traffic and crowd control for a mass of people in the
    thousands.  Community leaders reported to PolOff the presence
    of at least two plain-clothed Mabahith officers among the
    crowd (MOI General Intelligence).

    ¶3. (C) With the exception of the massive crowd control effort
    required during the Gudaih village Karbala play, security
    presence was minimal throughout the proceedings. Many events
    witnessed by ConGen Officers included audiences numbering in
    the hundreds, and went unsupervised by any uniformed officer
    (NOTE: Karbala plays are held on 10 Muharram and commemorate
    the martyrdom of Imam Hussein. Gudaih holds the largest play
    in Qatif, last year estimated at an audience of more than
    10,000.  It is widely agreed this year's audience was
    considerably larger than that of last year. END NOTE).

    ¶4. (C) The community of Awamiyya, referred to locally as
    "Little Fallujah" and known for its harder edge and supposed
    propensity for street violence, holds one of the larger
    Karbala plays in Qatif as well as the only haza (mourning)
    procession in Saudi Arabia in which participants cut their
    scalps with swords and march while bleeding (NOTE: In most
    proceedings, "hazis" rhythmically beat their chests with
    their hands, while in the community of Aujam they flagellate
    themselves using metal chains.  Awamiyya's procession is
    considered the most extreme, but is paradoxically the only
    one witnessed by ConGen officers in which a procession of
    women, scalps uncut, followed the men. END NOTE).

    ¶5. (C) To assure that all logistical and security precautions
    were in place, young men in Awamiyya organized security posts
    and officers, wearing badges and neon-colored vests to
    identify themselves and using two-way radios to communicate.
    These security efforts were better organized than previous,
    less formal plans which led to an incident last year in which
    three unofficial mutawa (religious police) - private Salafi
    citizens that locals believe were unaffiliated with the
    Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice
    (CPVPV) - attempted to enter the Awamiyya proceedings and
    were beaten by local youth (COMMENT: Qatif contacts believe
    that "Wahhabis" seek to gain access to such Ashura events to
    confront participants, or record the proceedings for the
    purpose of then campaigning against the Shi'a as unbelievers.
     For this reason, some security presence is often welcomed by
    the Qatif community, to ensure that any who would wish to
    incite violence are prevented from attending. END COMMENT).
    Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr delivered the opening speech to the
    Karbala play in Awamiyya, this following his 9 Muharram
    (January 18) speech calling for the creation of a United
    Opposition Front to challenge the SAG (septel).

    ¶6. (C) An example of the increasingly free atmosphere that
    Qatif Shi'a enjoyed was a new event in the Qatif-area town of
    Safwa.  Though a procession of thousands of hazis had been
    refused permission to march down the main road of Safwa (they
    instead marched down side roads without issue), the
    government did not stop the community from organizing a new
    event area that included a sand sculpture, an artistic area
    for calligraphy and Ashura-themed paintings/drawings, a tent
    area with a video feed for lectures, and a tent for educating
    children on the meaning of Ashura (NOTE: PolOff was informed
    by event organizers that the satellite connection was used to
    provide religious lectures from participants in Iraq. END
    NOTE).  As with many celebrations, food was cooked and shared
    for free with event guests.  One of the organizers told
    PolOff that the Mabahith had intervened when on 2 Muharram
    (January 10) the group began setting up tents without
    permission.  Reportedly, after a meeting in the Dammam
    General Intelligence office, all issues were resolved, and
    the Safwa residents were free to continue with their new
    commemoration event.  Sheikh Mohammad Hassan, presiding over
    the Safwa event, spoke to PolOff about the need of SAG
    security to allow peaceful commemorations such as that one,
    particularly when repression of such events might lead to
    conflict.

    --------------------
    WHAT IS THE MESSAGE?
    --------------------

    ¶7. (C) Sheikh Hassan al-Saffar, generally recognized as
    Qatif's most prominent religious figure, consistently
    attracted the largest audiences to his lectures with parking
    lots swelling and overflow crowds sitting in the streets
    outside of husseiniyyas during his speeches.  The thousands
    in attendance were only a small number compared to those who
    watched al-Saffar on satellite channel al-Kothar, or
    downloaded his speeches from www.saffar.org (NOTE: Local
    contacts informed ConGen Officers that several Qatif-area
    events were covered by non-Saudi media including Iranian
    television station "Al Sahar," and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi
    Council's network "Al Forat." END NOTE).  Leader of the
    "Shirazi" faction of the EP and long a proponent of
    non-violent partnership with the SAG, al-Saffar continued to
    stress reform within the context of the Saudi state.
    However, this did not stop him from highlighting the need for
    greater Shi'a/SAG cooperation.  Pointing out that many Saudis
    accuse the United States of trying to separate the EP from
    greater Saudi Arabia, Saffar said that the greatest force
    causing any such separatism is intolerant Sunnis who force
    Shi'a to feel as unwanted foreigners in their own country.
    The number of signs expressing support for Lebanese Hezbollah
    and Hassan Nasrallah was less than last year, the previous
    year's surge tied to the Israeli-Hezbollah clash of summer
    2006 (reftel), but ConGen officers did observe children
    wearing Nasrallah shirts and his books were readily available
    in Ashura markets.  Contacts also reported that Hezbollah
    satellite television station "Al-Manar" covered Ashura events
    in Qatif.  Additionally of note was the increase from last
    year in Iran-related paraphernalia on display in the Ashura
    markets, from Iranian flag headbands for children, to books
    on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

    --------------------------------------------- --------
    AL-AHSA COMMUNITY FORBIDDEN FROM PUBLIC COMMEMORATION
    --------------------------------------------- --------

    ¶8. (C) While Qatif enjoyed greater freedom of religious
    expression, the SAG prevented al-Ahsa from any public
    commemorations.  Post contacts report that on January 5,
    2008, al-Ahsa regional Governor Badr bin-Jiluwi called a
    meeting of approximately 30 Hasawi sheikhs to warn them
    against organizing or supporting any public Ashura events.
    The al-Ahsa municipal police then forcibly closed multiple
    husseiniyyas, including that of Mohammed al-Harz, a
    well-known Hasawi Shi'a whose husseiniyya had operated for
    thirty-five years.  The closed husseiniyyas were advised to
    remain closed until further notice.  While the January 5
    meeting and increased police patrolling dissuaded the vast
    majority of Shi'a in al-Ahsa from any public demonstrations,
    residents of the Rumailah village resisted.  Prominent
    al-Ahsa human rights activist and member of the National
    Society for Human Rights Mohammed al-Jubran reported that
    throughout the first 10 days of Muharram, there were small
    clashes between youth in Rumailah, who hung banners and
    erected flags, and the security forces that would come to
    remove such displays.

    ¶9. (C) Al-Jubran reports that the tenor of such resistance
    and demonstrations has become more strident, as Hasawis
    continue to receive what they feel is unequal treatment.
    Some of the banners posted in Rumailah called for a "renewed
    intifada," and contacts reported that the chatter always
    constant in the Hasawi Shi'a community had taken a decidedly
    harsher tone in recent weeks.  A commemoration of the
    intifada of 1979 - an uprising of Eastern Province Shi'a
    sparked by popular enthusiasm for the ideals of the Iranian
    Revolution - has been a recurring theme in the EP Shi'a
    community during past weeks, exemplified by the Shi'a website
    www.rasid.com running regular pieces discussing the
    importance of the intifada, going so far as to even post
    pictures of those killed in the uprisings.  Al-Jubran
    reported that while there were 48 total Ashura-related
    arrests in al-Ahsa last year, there are no reported arrests
    thus far this year.  He did add though that it is still much
    too early to compare, as Saudi authorities will often wait
    one to two months before making arrests in cases of
    unauthorized religious celebration.

    ¶10. (C) COMMENT:  There is no doubt that the work by the
    Shirazi leadership in Qatif, some of whom are part of the
    Qatif Municipal Council, has paid dividends in the latitude
    granted to the community to handle its own affairs.  Building
    on new autonomy such as the budgetary authority gained by the
    Qatif Municipal Council in 2007, this year's Ashura events
    were extremely well-attended in spite of cold temperatures.
    Event organizers in each of the villages visited reported
    crowds equal to if not bigger than in years past.  As a
    consequence of this greater liberty, Qatifis generally
    acknowledge progress by the SAG in granting equality to all
    citizens and reflect an understanding that reform is a slow
    process.  This starkly contrasts with opinions in al-Ahsa,
    where contacts describe a growing wave of negative reaction
    to increased SAG repression and warn of "consequences" to
    repressive tactics.  Mohammed al-Jubran told PolOff that
    while he is often able to help aggrieved young people find an
    avenue by which to air their grievances through formal
    channels, he worries about the increasing number of young
    people unable to access such channels who may instead voice
    their protests in other ways. END COMMENT

    (APPROVED: KINCANNON)
    GFOELLER

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