A leading Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia criticized Monday a recent Arab League report that warns of empowering religious and ethnic groups in Iraq which could lead to destabilizing neighboring countries.
“The saying that granting political rights to religious and ethnic groups in Iraq would constitute a threat to neighboring countries indicates a sickness in the Arab political mentality,” said Sheikh Hassan al-Saffar from his office in the mainly Shiite city of Al-Qatif in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.
“Is it correct to oppress the legitimate aspirations and rights of Iraqis in order to protect the situation in other countries?” Saffar asked in a text he faxed to The Daily Star in response to written questions sent earlier to him.
The report, prepared by an Arab League delegation that spent two weeks in Iraq in December, reflects concern among Arab states that giving too much authority to Kurdish and Shiite groups would inspire minorities in neighboring countries to rise up and demand more power.
The Shiites in Iraq, who make up 60 percent of the population, are hoping to get majority representation in the government.
Shiites constitute 10 percent of the Saudi population but are thought to form the majority in the oil-rich Eastern Province. The Saudi leadership has long feared unrest among its minority Shiite community.
But Saffar said “Shiites in Saudi Arabia are devoted to protect the unity of the country and have no separatist tendencies,” adding they have long demanded for equality with fellow citizens and their right to practice their religious beliefs freely.
On April 30 of last year, some 450 Shiite figures, including clerics and academics, submitted a petition to Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz entitled, Partners of the Nation. The petition affirmed the loyalty of Shiites for their country and their support to the government but demanded authorities to solve the sectarian discrimination against them.
“The demands by Shiites in Saudi Arabia for more rights have been till today part of the reform demands that the cultural elite here are calling for,” said Dawood al-Shirian, a Riyadh-based analyst in the kingdom.
Shirian added that Shiites had never come up with a political proposal that did not adhere to the legitimacy of the Saudi ruling establishment.
The sheikh, who returned to the kingdom in 1995 after 10 years of self-exile, said that “stability of countries neighboring Iraq is achieved by reforming their political situation and expanding their popular participation in political decisions.”
Saffar also said that adopting democracy and solving the problems of discrimination among citizens by treating everybody equally would also contribute to such stability in these countries.
Discrimination practiced by Saudi authorities against fellow Shiite citizens include difficulty to attain governmental posts. No Shiite has ever become a minister or an employee in the Foreign Ministry “even for a job like a tea-maker,” said Saffar.
Only once did a Shiite citizen become an ambassador, Jamil Jeshi, who served as the kingdom’s envoy to Iran for a short period and only for political purposes that aimed at improving relations with the Islamic Republic in the late 1990s, he said.
It is rare for a Shiite to attain the post of director-general in ministries or to serve in the national and security apparatuses.
In a telephone interview with The Daily Star on Sunday night, Arab League spokesman Hisham Youssef refused to comment on the content of the report that was obtained by the Associated Press over the weekend, saying it was confidential.
But he said that his evaluation to the situation in Iraq was that power should not be divided on sectarian and ethnic basis. “Kurds should not be granted a particular percentage because they are Kurds and the same goes to the Shiites and Sunnis,” he said from the Arab League’s offices in Cairo.
“The issue is related to the Iraqi people who are one and what reflects this people’s interests rather than having a particular religious or ethnic group win a privilege here or a priority there at the expense of other groups,” said Youssef.
Asked why the Arab League supported Lebanon’s solution to end its 15-year civil war by adopting an agreement based on a system of sectarian balance while refusing to accept the same solution to Iraq, Youssef said: “Since the Lebanese people are satisfied in reaching this version, then good for them and this is what is needed. That’s why we say that we want Iraqis to reach a solution and not get a solution from abroad.”
Youssef said the report was circulated among Arab foreign ministers of the league’s 22 member states and they will discuss the situation in Iraq, including what was presented in the report, in their meeting on March 3 and 4.
He said that the Arab League was ready to monitor the elections in Iraq if it was asked to do so, calling on the United Nations to ensure the transparency and credibility of the elections.
Other sections of the report denounced violations of human rights and international law by the occupation forces in Iraq, saying that such abuses have embittered the population, reported Reuters, which obtained the 50-page document on Monday.
Citing raids on homes, arrests, open-ended detentions and troop sensitivities toward Iraqis, the report said: “It (the treatment of Iraqis) is not in conformity with relevant international legal rules or with human rights documents in general,” said the report.
The delegation that met with some 600 prominent Iraqis during its mission recommended that the secretary-general of the Arab League appoint a special representative in Iraq until the country has a new constitution or a new national government.