Discrimination Against Shia Muslims Over Decades in Saudi Arabia
by Leila Yazdani: Over decades of systemic discrimination in Saudi Arabia, Shia anger has periodically boiled over, leading to widespread protests that have always been suppressed by Riyadh. However, these protests have always resulted in brutality and bloodshed for the Shia Muslims, and the statements of the Saudi Ministry of Interior justify their violent actions by transferring the responsibility to the demonstrators.
Protests in response to the execution of Sheikh Al-Nimr in 2016
In the opening days of January 2016, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had executed Sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr and various members of the Shia community. In response to the execution of Al-Nimr, protests in Shia-dominated states, and Shia communities within Sunni states, were organized with varying degrees of fury, E-ir.info reported. It was not the first time that they have demonstrated and demanded their rights.
Protestors called for an end to anti-Shia discrimination in 2011
For almost two years, since February 17, 2011, Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province has seen a protest movement inspired by the Arab Spring that called for democracy, dignity, and more rights for Saudi Arabia’s disenfranchised Shia minority, Tobymatthiesen reported.
Shia’s dissatisfaction with their treatment within the state was brought to a head in 2011 when inspired by the Arab Spring and events in Egypt, protests broke out in the Eastern Province. Protestors called for an end to anti-Shia discrimination and fairer political representation, as well as declaring their solidarity with protests in Shia-majority Bahrain.
The Saudi authorities were quick to put down the unrest, opening fire on demonstrators and arresting many, Aljazeera told. Shia Scholar Sheikh Nimr Baqir Al-Nimr played a major role in demonstrations by Saudi’s Shia Muslims in the wake of the so-called Arab Spring. At a protest in July 2012, he was arrested after being shot in the leg by police.
2009 demonstrations in Medina marking the most serious outbreak of Shia dissent since 1979
If a single event can pinpoint the shift, it was the February 2009 demonstrations in Medina—a revered city among the Shia because it contains the graves of Shia Imams (AS). When mounting frustration with the lack of reform turned into collective rage.
Clashes broke out between Shia pilgrims visiting the cemetery and members of the Saudi morality police. The security forces then moved into the Shia neighborhoods of Medina, beating and arresting residents. Dozens were injured. The confrontations began on 20 February 2009 as Shia gathered in Medina to mark the anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad’s death.
The most seminal event was the seven-day uprising of November 1979
The most seminal event in the Eastern Province was the seven-day uprising of November 1979. Saudi Shia started an uprising that was brutally suppressed. The late 1970s saw growing disappointment among the Shia at the government’s failure to deliver on its promises to modernize the Eastern Province, where living conditions contrasted sharply with the growing opulence of Saudi elites in the central Najd region. Saudi Shia mobilized themselves as a repressed and discriminated against a religious minority. They were highly active in demanding religious, political, and economic rights and an end to discrimination in employment and education.
The protests began after Shia activists organized public processions on the Ashura holy day, which commemorates the death of Imam Hussain (A.S), in Al-Qatif in direct violation of a ban that had been in place since 1913. The revolt quickly spread to nearby villages, and the regime’s repressive response—via the Saudi National Guard—was swift. Mass demonstrations in the Shia-majority city of Qatif met with a violent clampdown and executions. At least two dozen Shia protesters perished. Many of their opposition leaders went into exile following a wave of repression in the Eastern Province where they lived, Alpbach.org told. But, this uprising inspired many Shia Muslims to demand they be treated equitably.
By December, the leaders of the uprising—Hasan Al-Saffar, Tawfiq Al-Saif, Jafar Al-Shayeb, and others—had formally founded the Organization for the Islamic Revolution. The Shia minority continued to stage their own demonstrations demanding equality and an end to discrimination against their community. The response of the Saudi regime has been categorized by many human rights observers – such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch – as heavy-handed and repressive, with accusations of various human rights abuses leveled at the government.
