VZCZCXRO3798
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDIR RUEHKUK RUEHLH RUEHPW RUEHROV
DE RUEHRH #1070/01 1921314
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 101314Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY RIYADH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8750
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNISL/ISLAMIC COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY 0221
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 RIYADH 001070 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/10/2018 
TAGS: CIA KIRF KISL PGOV PHUM PREL PTER SA
SUBJECT: SECTARIANISM UNDERMINES LOCAL CONFIDENCE IN 
INTERFAITH INITIATIVE 
 
REF: A. 08 RIYADH 1035 
     ¶B. 08 RIYADH 853 
     ¶C. 07 RIYADH 2223 
 
Classified By: CG John Kincannon for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY:  Despite King Abdullah's efforts to foster 
religious tolerance, an increase in local sectarian tension 
and a series of perceived anti-Shi'a actions by Saudi 
authorities in the Eastern Province have undermined 
confidence among many Saudi Shi'a that the SAG's interfaith 
efforts will achieve results in the Kingdom.  With tensions 
already heightened due to a widely-reported anti-Shi'a 
statement made by twenty-two Salafi sheikhs only three days 
prior to the June 4 - 6 Mecca Conference on Interfaith 
Dialogue, the SAG further stoked local ire by shutting down 
three long-operating unlicensed Shi'a mosques in the city of 
Khobar on June 5.  Also in early June, authorities forced the 
closure of a Qatif-area women's hawza (Shi'a religious 
school) overseen by Jaafari court judge Sheikh Ghalib 
al-Hammad. In each case, the sheikh responsible for the 
mosque/hawza was detained and forced to sign a pledge to 
cease his religious activities.  After prominent al-Ahsa 
sheikh Tawfiq al-Amir offered a strong rebuttal to the 
Salafis' statement in a Friday sermon, he was detained on 
June 22 and held for one week.  Meanwhile, the highly 
publicized efforts of Sunni activist Mekhlef al-Shammari to 
promote unity among Muslims by praying at a Shi'a mosque 
resulted in a subsequent backlash, as threats of violence 
against the community leader forced cancellation of further 
planned events.  While some remain hopeful that the King's 
initiative will bring change, others argue the discrepancy 
between royal statements and local realities points to King 
Abdullah's limited ability to promote change in the face of a 
well-entrenched political and religious establishment.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
------------------ 
Vanguard Effort... 
------------------ 
 
¶2. (C) Advancing a long-held personal vision for greater 
inter-faith understanding, King Abdullah visited the Vatican 
to meet with Pope Benedict XVI in November 2007, the first 
ever meeting between a Saudi monarch and a Pope.  Abdullah 
continued to focus on this vision in early 2008, speaking of 
its importance both publicly and privately, while allowing 
more hesitant members of the Saudi religious establishment to 
adjust to the idea.  On June 4-6, the SAG organized in Mecca 
the first major conference of the effort, with the goal of 
promoting unity amongst various Islamic sects.  With former 
Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani attending 
alongside Saudi Grand Mufti Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh, the Mecca 
gathering ended with calls to move forward in dialogue with 
other religions, without "giving up the religion's (Islam's) 
fundamentals."  As a next step King Abdullah will inaugurate 
the International Dialogue Conference, to be held in Madrid 
on July 16 - 18 (Reftel A).  The Madrid conference will bring 
together Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders who, rather 
than focusing on political issues, will attempt to affirm 
fundamental shared religious values, including ideas such as 
international cooperation, human rights and peaceful 
coexistence. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
...Undermined by Increased Tensions and Local Crackdown 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶3. (C) These ground-breaking efforts by King Abdullah have 
generated an underwhelming response from many of the 
Kingdom's Shi'a leaders, as the headline-making initiative 
has coincided with increased sectarian tensions and a recent 
crackdown by Saudi authorities on Shi'a religious activities 
in the Eastern Province.  Tensions were initially heightened 
in the Kingdom when, on June 1, twenty-two Saudi Salafi 
religious leaders issued a harsh anti-Shi'a statement. 
Specifically referencing Iraq, Iran, Yemen and Hizbollah the 
statement accused Shi'a of "humiliating" Sunnis and added 
that they "sow strife, corruption and destruction among 
Muslims and destabilize security in Muslim countries."  Saudi 
Shi'a point out that many of the twenty-two signatories enjoy 
close ties to the SAG and the SAG took no steps to refute the 
statement, although one Saudi official told the Associated 
Press, on the condition of anonymity, that the sheikhs' 
comments did not represent the views of the SAG.  With this 
backdrop the Mecca conference was held, with a reported 500 
 
RIYADH 00001070  002 OF 003 
 
 
participants coming from all over the world.  Despite this 
impressive number of attendees, and the presence of 
Rafsanjani, EP contacts report that the only Saudi Shi'a 
leaders in attendance were Sheikh Hassan al-Saffar and his 
brother, Sheikh Mohammed al-Saffar. 
 
¶4. (C) With sectarian stresses already running high, on June 
5, the second day of the Mecca Conference, city of Khobar 
Mabahith - acting on orders from the office of EP Governor 
Mohammad bin Fahd - closed three unlicensed Shi'a mosques 
which local contacts say had operated for more than three 
decades.  Each mosque's imam was detained along with a small 
number of worshippers.  They were released after signing 
pledges not to continue their religious activities. 
According to Ali al-Huwaider (protect), who had previously 
attended these unlicensed mosques, in the weeks following the 
closure of the three mosques, Ali al-Gharib of the Doha area 
of Khobar was similarly detained after inviting a large group 
to pray in his home. NOTE: While it might seem acceptable 
that authorities shut down unlicensed mosques, Shi'a point to 
the fact that unlicensed mosques and husseiniyyas exist 
throughout the EP and that these particular mosques had 
operated - with the local authorities' knowledge - for 
decades.  Due to the difficulty of obtaining licenses for 
Shi'a religious establishments, particularly outside of Qatif 
and al-Ahsa, a gray area of permissible activity exists in 
which well-known but "unofficial" religious institutions 
operate in cities like Dammam and Khobar (Reftel B). END NOTE. 
 
¶5. (C) Also in early June, Eastern Province Mabahith forced a 
women's hawza (Shi'a religious school) in Tarut to close, 
detaining the hawza's manager, Sheikh Ghalib al-Hammad, until 
he signed a pledge to stop all hawza activity.  The school 
had some two hundred students and was notable not only 
because it was one of the few Shi'a religious schools 
offering training for women, but also because Sheikh 
al-Hammad is one of the three judges who make up the Appeals 
Court in the Jaafari court system.  Banned Shi'a website 
rasid.com reports that authorities gave no reason for the 
closure of the hawza.  In addition to the closure of the 
Khobar mosques and the Tarut hawza - both events widely known 
in the Shi'a community - Shi'a leader Jafar al-Shayeb 
(protect) also told PolOff of other lesser-known incidents 
that had led him to question if these might be deliberate 
efforts to undermine interfaith progress.  Chief among them 
was a negotiation process with the SAG regarding a request to 
use a portion of a Sunni cemetery in Dammam for Shi'a burial. 
 Al-Shayeb told PolOff that after a long effort in which 
Shi'a community leaders worked with the Human Rights 
Commission to gain permission from the Royal Court, the 
process has now completely stagnated as the EP Governor's 
office has blocked implementation. 
 
¶6. (C) With sectarian pressure continuing to run high, and 
after the events of Khobar, Dammam and Qatif, on Friday, June 
20, prominent al-Ahsa imam Sheikh Tawfiq al-Amer delivered an 
impassioned sermon attacking the twenty-two Salafi 
signatories of the anti-Shi'a statement.  Accusing the 
sheikhs of creating an atmosphere of tension, al-Amer 
demanded increased rights and freedoms for the Shi'a majority 
in al-Ahsa province.  In response, al-Ahsa Mabahith, on the 
order of al-Ahsa Governor Badr bin Jiluwi, detained the 
Sheikh on June 22, holding him without charge for seven days. 
 According to Mohammad al-Jubran (protect), a member of the 
National Society for Human Rights, al-Amer was held for a 
week because he had refused to sign a statement offered by 
Hasawi authorities pledging to end his speeches calling for 
increased Shi'a rights. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
Threats Deter Sunni Leader's Attempts at Reconciliation 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶7. (C) In an effort to provide a grassroots element to the 
high-level interfaith initiative, on June 13 Sunni human 
rights activist Mekhlef al-Shammari attended the mosque of 
leading Qatif sheikh Hassan al-Saffar to join Shi'a in Friday 
prayer.  The effort generated significant attention in 
Internet media, garnering both positive and negative 
comments.  As a follow-up, Al-Shammari and like-minded Qatifi 
Shi'a announced they would join together for Friday prayer on 
June 20 in Khobar's Crown Prince Sultan mosque, a Sunni place 
of worship.  Due to a deluge of death threats however, the 
event never happened.  While Internet blogs saw numerous 
comments threatening violence against the group, al-Shammari 
did not cancel the event until he received a call to meet 
 
RIYADH 00001070  003 OF 003 
 
 
with the Khobar Mabahith.  According to Ibrahim al-Mugaiteeb 
(protect), who was in close contact with al-Shammari, the 
Mabahith officers told al-Shammari they supported his efforts 
to build bridges with the Shi'a community, but believed the 
possibility of violence at the Sultan mosque was too high to 
proceed with the proposed event.  Despite canceling the 
event, on June 24, a sword wielding assailant attacked the 
Khobar house of al-Shammari, attempting to break into the 
building.  Al-Shammari contacted area police and neither he 
nor his family was hurt.  Al-Mugaiteeb reports that 
al-Shammari has been given police protection to prevent any 
further attacks. 
 
-------------------------- 
Theories of Royal Intrigue 
-------------------------- 
 
¶8. (C) After the 2007 up-tick in Eastern Province sectarian 
incidents, particularly in al-Ahsa, the first half of 2008 
has been comparatively quiet.  The 2008 commemorations of 
Ashura, Arbaeen and other Shi'a occasions had seen relatively 
few documented incidents of sectarian-inspired detentions by 
Saudi authorities (Reftel C).  With King Abdullah's talk of 
interfaith dialogue building on this slight momentum, June's 
events have created confusion and convinced many that King 
Abdullah's institutional power within the Kingdom is 
significantly limited.  No Shi'a leader saw the timing of 
these closures and arrests as purely coincidental, and some 
express the view that it is an effort by Interior Minister 
Prince Naif, with the implicit support of his Sudairi 
brethren, to flex his institutional muscle against the King's 
efforts.  Naif enjoys close ties to EP Governor Prince 
Mohammed bin Fahd (this thanks to the Sudairi lineage and 
Mohammed's marriage to Naif's daughter).  Many believe that 
Naif, working through EP Governor Mohammed, controls the 
province's religious freedom agenda. Whatever the true 
reason, there is a clear disconnect between the efforts of 
the King and the actions of the EP authorities. 
 
¶9. (C) Many in the Shi'a community dismiss the King's recent 
initiative for interfaith dialogue.  It is too soon, however, 
to judge the ultimate effect of the King's efforts.  Leading 
Shi'a sheikh Hassan al-Saffar continues to support the King's 
initiative and at this time plans to attend the Madrid 
Conference.  Al-Saffar continues working toward sectarian 
reconciliation, recently bringing Sheikh Dr. Mohammed 
al-Najimi, a prominent Sunni cleric and member of the Islamic 
Fiqh Academy, to Qatif for a joint conference with the 
community.  Al-Saffar also brought together eighty-five Shi'a 
clerics - including the likes of Abdulkarim al-Hubail, 
recognized as a leading Saudi Hizbollah figure - to issue a 
joint statement responding to the twenty-two Salafis by 
calling for Islamic unity and urging "our brothers who call 
for fatwas" to revise their strategy and forget the hostility 
of past generations. 
 
¶10. (C) Some, like pragmatic Qatif Municipal Councilman Isa 
al-Muzel, believe the King will continue working past this 
imperfect first step, and that through focusing on increased 
citizen participation there will be a brighter and more 
tolerant future ahead.  Meanwhile, in a July 8 meeting, 
moderate Sunni imam Sheikh Adel al-Ghoneim told PolOff that 
the interfaith initiative will create change, but only with 
time.  According to the imam, while events on the ground 
might remain stagnant, attitudes will change with a continued 
focus on tolerance. 
 
¶11. (C) COMMENT: The question is how much time remains.  Some 
fear that the continued discrepancy between high-level calls 
for unity and ground-level actions against it will doom any 
chance for progress.  The more important concern, however, is 
whether the interfaith initiative will continue past the 
reign of King Abdullah.  In a process that demands long-term 
commitment, the events of the past month call into question 
just how deep and wide the commitment of the royal family to 
interfaith dialogue runs. END COMMENT. 
 
(APPROVED: JKINCANNON) 
FRAKER