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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