Standing on a platform overlooking his followers, Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr waved his finger in the air as he delivered his weekly sermon, "Who among us is not familiar with the intimidation and injustice.... I am 55 years old, more than half a century. From the day I was born and to this day, I've never felt safe and secure in this country."
His words echoed through the loudspeakers of the mosque, resonating across Saudi Arabia's Eastern Region.
With his long beard, the turban on his head and his modest cloak, the lean Shiite cleric may not look like much, but his charisma and fiery speeches embody the desire of many for freedom in a theocratic system ruled by religious and social oppression.
Less than a year after making that speech, Sheikh Nimr was arrested by Saudi security services. The cleric, rights activist and scholar who spent his adult life preaching social cohesion, religious tolerance and called for peaceful political change, was charged with sedition.
He was condemned to die by beheading, the Saudi monarchy's favorite method of execution. And despite widespread protests both at home and abroad, a Saudi court upheld the death sentence on October 25. Now, his fate rests with Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the newly crowned, 80-year-old king whose brain is reportedly turning into mush as a result of Alzheimer's disease. Salman will have the final say on whether the execution order will be carried through, or Sheikh Nimr will receive clemency.
These are tough times for the Saudi monarch, whose family's uninterrupted, century-long rule is facing existential challenges. Bankrolling terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq, while failing to attain their geopolitical goal of ousting President Bashar Al Assad, Riyadh has also been bombing its southern neighbor Yemen for over seven months, but is no closer to reinstating the puppet regime of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
With Saudi foreign policy on kamikaze mode, perhaps even more worrying for the Kingdom is the level of discontent at home.
Despite the fact that Saudi Arabia houses the world's largest known reserves of oil, the unemployment rate for Saudis between the ages of 16 and 29 stands at 29 percent. The level of disgruntlement among Saudi youths has already opened the doors to groups like Daesh, which the regime in Riyadh [nurturing the extremist Wahhabi ideology] may soon be unable to steer solely towards Shiite-dominated Qatif, where a series of bombings this year targeting local mosques killed dozens.
The political oppression, social injustice and economic hardship have also given rise to calls for reforms by the country's Shiite minority and the monarchy's most vocal critic, Sheikh Nimr. The level of concern among Saudi royals over the threat to their totalitarian rule is best exemplified in the brutal crackdown against the Shiite-led protest movement in the northeast of the country, inspired by the Arab Spring in 2011.
According to local activists, hundreds have been killed and tens of thousands imprisoned in the Eastern Province, forcing condemnations from just about every rights group on the planet that Saudi money can and cannot buy, including Human Rights Watch, which has a history of fundraising in Saudi Arabia.
HRW admitted that Shiites in Saudi Arabia "face systematic discrimination in religion, education, justice, and employment."
Among the now estimated 30,000 political prisoners languishing in Saudi jails is also Sheikh Nimr's nephew. Ali Mohammed Al-Nimr was arrested in 2012 at the age of 17 for taking part in anti-government protests. According to the anti-death penalty charity Reprieve, Ali was tortured and forced to sign a confession.
By the time he got to court, he was charged with being part of a terrorist organization, carrying weapons and targeting security patrols with Molotov cocktails. His death sentence was also recently upheld. Just like his uncle, Ali, now 21 years old, is set to be beheaded, before his body is strapped to a cross and left to rot.
London-based political commentator and Islamic scholar Shabbir Hassanally thinks that if the monarchy is "truly insane and has no desire to continue to survive as a regime, then they will kill Sheikh Nimr."
Hassanally explains that, "this might all be brinkmanship on the part of the Saudis - and against Iran and the Resistance Bloc - but the problem with a bluff is that if you are called on it, you have to act on it." He adds, however, that executing Sheikh Nimr, "will send shockwaves through the region. Shockwaves of anger."
If Riyadh's current foreign policy is anything to go by, it would not be surprising if the Saudis decide to ignore warnings from states like Iran and murder the Shiite cleric. In flexing their geopolitical muscle, the Saudis have relied heavily on sowing sectarian strife in the Middle East, and the execution of Sheikh Nimr would only add fuel to the fire.
At home, a spike in sectarian tensions would likely be used as a pretext for Riyadh to step up its intimidation and imprisonment of anti-government protesters, amid a growing chorus of opposition to its rule.
But given the realities on the ground, change is inevitable. The imprisonment or execution of Sheik Nimr may silence one voice, but history teaches us that it cannot frighten others into submission. Rather, it could become the new rallying cry of an unfinished revolution.
Source: al-Ahed news
31-10-201
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