Donna Abu-Nasr of the Associated Press has filed this report on Shi’a unrest in Saudi Arabia. She reports that the threat of succession from the Kingdom offered by a Shi’a Cleric (a move Ahmed at Saudi Jeans labeled moronic), has touched a very sensitive spot within the Saudi body politic. She notes that many other Shi’a have repudiated the comments.

The statement by Sheikh al-Nimr/Nemer truly was boneheaded. Not only was it guaranteed to produce a quick response from the government, but it also does not serve the long-term interests of Saudi Arabia’s Shi’ite communities, particularly those in the Eastern Province, home of Saudi Arabia’s oil production. Nor is the timing particularly good, with Saudi Arabia concerned about Iran and problems issuing from Shi’ite-dominated Iraq.

The government, on the other hand, needs to do better and do more for the country’s Shi’a population. Since the country’s inception, the Shi’a have been disfavored, the target of Salafist invective and oppression. I believe the government has had a tendency to overreact out of fear (and loathing). That has not been in the long-term interest of the government, though it does not see it that way. Following King Abdullah’s initiatives, the country must keep working toward expanded tolerance for religious differences. To do otherwise only provides excuses for more statements like al-Nimr’s and a wedge for Iran.

Saudi government cracks down on Shiite dissidents
DONNA ABU-NASR

AWWAMIYA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — A cleric’s threat of secession has brought a swift government crackdown in this poor, radical Shiite town in Saudi Arabia’s increasingly restive religious minority heartland atop the Sunni kingdom’s main oil reserves.

Cleric Sheik Nimr al-Nimr threatened to break away if Saudi authorities don’t treat Shiites better. Followers of the sect make up 10 percent of the kingdom’s population of 22.6 million and they have long complained of discrimination, saying they are barred from key positions in the military and government and are not given an equal share of the country’s wealth.

“Our dignity has been pawned away, and if it is not … restored, we will call for secession,” al-Nimr said during Friday prayers last month. “Our dignity is more precious than the unity of this land.”

Since that incendiary sermon, more than 35 people have been arrested in a government crackdown and al-Nimr has gone into hiding. Police have set up checkpoints on the roads leading into Awwamiya, one of the Shiite area’s poorest towns.
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