This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

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