Wahhabi clerics deceive majority of Sunnis, prop up Al Saud regime: Al-Isa

An analyst says the Sunni majority of Saudi Arabia has been deceived by a Wahhabi monarchy that rules by fueling sectarian divisions. He also added that Wahhabi clerics are doing their best to prevent the final collapse of the House of Saud. the Sunni majority of Saudi Arabia have been deceived by the regime’s false support when in reality they support dictatorship and Wahhabism. In the background of this a Saudi prosecutor has urged the death penalty be applied to Shia cleric and activist Nimr al-Nimr who was kidnapped and arrested by Saudi security forces, which triggered deadly protests in the region of the eastern province where a popular uprising against the brutality of the Saudi regime has been boiling over for the past two years. Press TV has conducted an interview with Zayd Al-Isa, Middel East expert, London to further discuss the issue. What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.

Press TV:

The death penalty to critic and prominent cleric. What do you think about the charges brought against him and how would this decision be viewed in the eyes of the international community?

Press TV:

These charges are absolutely baseless and totally groundless. They are totally unfounded and I can just say they are a travesty of justice and makes a mockery of what is called the legal system in Saudi Arabia, which is actually non-existent. And that is according to reputable international agencies like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. The evidence is always fabricated and it is extracted using the worst types of torture. Those who are accused, particularly the Imam, have been denied any access to a lawyer or indeed to any legal representation; they have been denied any access to his family - they haven’t been able to establish his whereabouts since he was kidnapped by the so-called security services. And he has simply called for basic human rights. He has called for an end to the violence and discrimination and the unbearable abuse and widespread persecution of the Shias in Saudi Arabia and the Eastern province, which happens to be the wealthiest and oil-rich part of Saudi Arabia. Those people in this area have been subjected to intolerable discrimination and they have been treated like second class citizens. There is widespread unemployment, widespread persecution of those people. He called on his people to stand up to the Saudi regime and defy the Saudi regime. We must remember that there has been a popular uprising raging in the eastern province and this has spread from Bahrain where the Saudi regime has occupied and invaded that country to quell the protests and placate the demands of the overwhelming majority of Bahrainis who are demanding, again, basic human rights and political reform. And we have to remind ourselves that these protests are peaceful protests. The protesters in both the eastern province and also in Bahrain, they are peaceful protests demanding human rights, demanding political reform. And we have to say that the United States, which is the staunchest and the closest ally of Saudi Arabia and has been propping up the Saudi regime in the face of internal and popular uprising, which have bled Saudi Arabia.

Press TV:

Touching on what you’ve just said, how significant are the protests and demonstrations taking place at the doorstep of the House of Saud?

Al-Isa:

I have to say that the protests have been successful in actually moving from Bahrain into the eastern province, which has been swept by protests for two years now - ongoing protests for the last two years. But what is more significant is that this popular uprising has surmounted the impregnable Saudi regime’s defense, which has been sectarian divisions by actually moving to the heartlands to the areas where the Saudis have their diehard supporters and that is to the Sunni areas of Saudi Arabia. We must also remind ourselves that the Saudi regime is dependent on the Wahabi Salafist establishment, which props up the regime, which gives them religious legitimacy and religious justification whereas the overwhelming majority of Saudis are Sunnis. And those people have been deceived for a long time by the Saudi regime’s claims that it is the guardian and the defender of Sunnis. Whereas in reality the popular uprising around the Arab world in Egypt, in Yemen, shows that the Saudis regime is supportive of dictatorship; supportive of tyrants against the world of Sunni Muslims who are the dominant forces in those regions. So we’ve seen that the Saudi regime has gone out of its way to spearhead and to be at the forefront of opposing popular uprisings around the Arab and Muslim world.