Saudi Arabia Puts Down Demos

By William Fisher

Resisting pressure from human rights advocates, the Government of Saudi Arabia readied itself to apply maximum force to quell pro-democracy demonstrations.

Reports are that Saudi authorities conscripted some 10,000 police to be ready to apply whatever force is necessary should the previously announced “Day of Rage” actually materialize following Friday prayers.

But it appears that if there were any major demonstrations in Saudi Arabia today, they remain among the Kingdom’s best-kept secrets.

It is now well past prayer time on Friday afternoon in Saudi Arabia. As we write this, there have been no reports of demonstrations in any of the Kingdom’s major cities. But Saudi activists are reported to have set up online groups calling for protests in Riyadh today, Saturday.

In Qatif, a small city in the Eastern part of the country – near Shia-dominated Bahrain – AlJazeera television showed a group of protesters attempting to gather on a street, only to come under fire from police. It was unclear whether the police were aiming at the demonstrators or firing into the air, and whether they were using live ammunition or rubber bullets. Witnesses said three protesters and one police officer were wounded. The eastern part of Saudi Arabia is home to a large number of Shia.

Hundreds of police were visible on the streets of Riyadh, the Saudi capital, today. They closed roads to motor traffic and established checkpoints. As people gathered for Friday prayers, police searched people and cars. Witnesses said a helicopter flew over the city as groups of policemen manned street corners and intersections.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First, and many other international rights groups have called on the Saudi Arabian authorities to reverse the ban on peaceful protest in the Kingdom, amid fears of a violent crackdown on mass demonstrations.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister has said that dialogue -- not protests -- is the way to bring reform and warned that the oil-rich nation will take strong action if activists take to the streets.

Inspired by a wave of uprisings in the Arab world, activists from Saudi Arabia's Shiite Muslim minority have called for a "Day of Rage" on Friday to demand the regime's removal. The government accuses Shiites from outside the country of spurring the protests.

"The kingdom does not interfere in the affairs of others and will not allow for anyone to interfere in its own affairs," Prince Saud al-Faisal said today at a press conference in Saudi Arabia's port of Jeddah. Using a figure of speech, he said his regime would "cut off any finger" raised against the regime.

"Reform cannot be achieved through protests ... The best way to achieve demands is through national dialogue," he said. The protest ban, confirmed on Saturday, was backed by religious and security bodies.

"Instead of banning peaceful protests the Saudi Arabian authorities should
address the need for major human rights reform in the country," said Philip
Luther, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Program.

“They must heed the growing calls for change within Saudi Arabia”.

Saudi Arabia's "Day of Rage" was organized online using Facebook. One page has over 33,000 followers.

The ban was also backed by the president of the Mutawa'een (religious police), the Council of Senior Ulema (religious clerics) and the Shura Council (a consultative body appointed by the King).

“Reports that the Saudi authorities plan to deploy troops to police upcoming
demonstrations are very worrying,” said Philip Luther. “Rather than seeking to intimidate would-be demonstrators from coming out on the streets, the authorities should rein in the security forces and allow peaceful protests to take place.”

The Ministry of Interior was reported to have said in 2008 that protests in
Saudi Arabia were banned, after a demonstration against Israel's military action in Gaza.

Although Amnesty International is not aware of any legal text banning
demonstrations, in practice the Saudi Arabian authorities have not allowed them to take place.

Amnesty International has also called on the authorities to release or charge a man detained on Friday 4 March during a protest in the capital Riyadh.

Muhammad al-Wad'ani has been detained incommunicado since his arrest and is believed to be at risk of torture.

A video posted on YouTube two days before the demonstration showed Muhammad al-Wad'ani calling for the fall of the monarchy and for people to join the protest.

Around 24 people were detained on 3 and 4 March following protests in the city of al-Qatif, denouncing the prolonged detention without trial of Shi'a prisoners. They were released on 8 March without charge reportedly only after they signed a pledge not to protest again.

Torture and other ill-treatment is frequently used to extract confessions from
detainees, to punish them for refusing to “repent” or to force them not to
criticize the government. Incommunicado detention in Saudi Arabia often lasts until a confession is obtained, which can take months and occasionally years.

Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the country’s foreign minister, said on Wednesday that "reform cannot be achieved through protests", while the protest ban, confirmed on Saturday, was backed by religious and security bodies.

The ban was also backed by the president of the Mutawa'een (religious police), the Council of Senior Ulema (religious clerics) and the Shura Council (a consultative body appointed by the King).

“Reports that the Saudi authorities plan to deploy troops to police upcoming
demonstrations are very worrying,” said Philip Luther. “Rather than seeking to intimidate would-be demonstrators from coming out on the streets, the
authorities should rein in the security forces and allow peaceful protests to
take place.”

Amnesty International also called on Saudi authorities to release or charge a man detained on Friday March 4 during a protest in the capital Riyadh.

Muhammad al-Wad'ani has been detained incommunicado since his arrest and is believed to be at risk of torture. A video posted on YouTube two days before the demonstration showed Muhammad al-Wad'ani calling for the fall of the monarchy and for people to join the protest.

Around 24 people were detained on 3 and 4 March following protests in the city of al-Qatif, denouncing the prolonged detention without trial of Shi'a prisoners. They were released on 8 March without charge reportedly only after they signed a pledge not to protest again.

The Ministry of Interior was reported to have said in 2008 that protests in
Saudi Arabia were banned, after a demonstration against Israel's military action in Gaza.

Although Amnesty International is not aware of any legal text banning
demonstrations, in practice the Saudi Arabian authorities have not allowed them to take place.

Torture and other ill-treatment is frequently used to extract confessions from
detainees, to punish them for refusing to “repent” or to force them not to
criticize the government.

Incommunicado detention in Saudi Arabia often lasts until a confession is
obtained, which can take months and occasionally years.

Human Rights Watch called on Saudi authorities to immediately release another demonstrator, a Shia cleric apparently arrested on February 27, 2011, for calling for a constitutional monarchy and equal rights for Shia.

The domestic intelligence agency, the General Directorate for Investigations, summoned Shaikh Tawfiq al-‘Amir to Hofuf in the al-Ahsa district of the Eastern Province and then arrested him, according to family members. No official reason was given for his arrest.

"The Saudi government should listen to the demands of its citizens, not seek to stifle them," said Christoph Wilcke, senior Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Calling for equal rights for an oppressed religious minority should not be a reason for harassment and arrest."

The arrest comes amid mounting pressure for political reform in Saudi Arabia as pro-democracy demonstrations sweep through the Middle East. A total of close to 2,000 Saudis have put their names to three separate petitions calling for a constitutional monarchy. The government so far has not arrested any of those who signed the petitions, which were made public last week.

However, the authorities have reportedly blocked access within the kingdom to the website http://www.dawlaty.com/ ("My Nation"), where one of the petitions appeared.

On February 16 the authorities arrested a group of people who had announced their intention to found the country's first political party, the Islamic Nation Party (Hizb al-Umma al-Islami).

One petition, the so-called "youth" petition, signed by more than 40 people and initiated by young journalists, was made public on the day of King Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz's return to Saudi Arabia on February 23, following a three-month absence for medical treatment. The petition called for an elected parliament, a separation of powers, a review of the Basic Law, and a basic administrative law, among other demands.

A second petition, "Toward a State of Rights and Institutions, " calls for an elected parliament with full legislative powers, a separation of the offices of king and prime minister, and the release of political prisoners, among other demands. Over 1,550 people have signed it, including some high-profile Islamist clerics who had vehemently opposed King Abdullah's promotion of women in the public sphere.

The third and latest petition, released on February 26 under the title, "National Declaration for Reform," was signed by more than 330 people, including leading liberal reformers, and includes the most detailed reform program. It calls for elections to decision-making bodies on the local, provincial, and national levels, as well as a review of the Basic Law to include rights protections, true separation of powers, and the release of political prisoners, among other demands.

Various Internet sites have called for a Saudi "Day of Rage" on March 11 and March 20, with nationwide demonstrations. Public protests are banned by the authorities in Saudi Arabia. Publicly identifying with demands for political reform remains risky in Saudi Arabia and can lead to harassment or detention.

On February 25 there were peaceful marches in the Shia towns of Safwa and Qatif in the Eastern Province. Residents of al-‘Awwamiyya, an adjacent small Shia town, held a silent vigil the same day calling for the release of the so-called "Forgotten Prisoners," nine Shia Saudis detained without charge or trial for over 12 years over unproven allegations of their involvement in the 1996 attacks on US military targets in Khobar that killed 19 Americans.

"The Saudi government risks being overtaken by history," Wilcke said. "Throughout the region citizens are demanding their rights. Persisting with outdated authoritarian ways is a recipe for

Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch (Cairo) - Saudi Arabia should rescind its categorical ban on peaceful demonstrations and release the more than 20 protesters detained on March 3, 2011, in the eastern town of Qatif, Human Rights Watch said today.

Saudi Arabia is one of only two countries in the Middle East and North Africa that ban protests as a matter of principle; Oman is the other. Saudi Arabia is not party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which protect the right to peaceful assembly, but in 2009 the country acceded to the Arab Charter for Human Rights, which also guarantees this right.

"By banning all protests Saudi rulers are telling their countrymen and women that for all political purposes they are not citizens and have no right to participate in public affairs," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "Saudis have had enough of unaccountable rulers telling them to do as they are told and shut up."

According to Amnesty International, “In the five years since he ascended the Saudi throne, King Abdullah has loosened the reins stifling Saudi society. But his reforms have been largely symbolic, with few lasting institutional changes.”

The group says that, under King Abdullah, Saudis have become freer to criticize the government or societal norms, but those who cross lines such as questioning the role of religion or singling out princes for criticism face harassment or jail.

It adds that women have become more visible in public and in the workplace. But even an adult woman still requires her male guardian’s written consent to make decisions about marriage, work, education, health care, and travel. Abdullah allowed women to stay in hotels without male guardians, but has left the guardian system as a whole intact.

Although the king initiated an Interfaith Dialogue Initiative in Madrid and New York, the Saudi minority Shia remains as badly treated as ever. While Abdullah shakes hands with rabbis abroad, Shia at home are arrested simply for praying together, Amnesty says.