Islam absent in Saudi political system: Analyst
Thu Jul 26, 2012 5:52PM GMT
Dr. Syed Ali Wasif, political analyst
An analyst says the governance of the Saudi Arabia regime over its nation is entirely divorced from Islamic teachings and the ruling Al Saud is only catering for Western interests, Press TV reports.
“Saudi Arabia is using the name of Islam to prolong its nefarious designs in supporting, defending and safeguarding the Western interests and the Israeli interests,” Dr. Syed Ali Wasif, the president of the Society for International Reforms & Research, said in an interview with Press TV.
“It has nothing to do with Islam. Just because it has Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia, it does not mean that it follows Islam.”
In Saudi Arabia, one family regime has been ruling over the country for the last 70 years “unhindered and without any accountability,” leading to rampant corruption and the widespread abolition of human rights, he added
“In this case of Saudi Arabia, we do not see any kind of popular support to the Saudi regime or people’s representatives sitting in the assemblies or in the parliament. So it is totally in contravention with the Islamic norms.”
Wasif further criticized the international community, human rights organizations, the United Nations Security Council, the Red Cross and the Red Crescent and other international bodies for “totally ignoring” the arbitrary detention of tens of thousands of Saudi citizens over the last decade.
“Especially those people who are living in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia are treated as third-rated citizens of Saudi Arabia. They do not have any kinds of right despite the fact that they are the citizens of Saudi Arabia,” he said.
On Wednesday, Saudi protesters gathered in front of the interior ministry in the capital city Riyadh, shouting slogans against the Al Saud regime and calling for an immediate release of political prisoners.
Since February 2011, protesters have held demonstrations on an almost regular basis in Saudi Arabia, mainly in the Qatif region and the town of Awamiyah in Eastern Province, primarily calling for the release of all political prisoners, freedom of expression and assembly, and an end to widespread discrimination.
The Saudi interior ministry issued a statement on March 5, 2011, prohibiting “all forms of demonstrations, marches or protests, and calls for them, because that contradicts the principles of the Islamic Sharia, the values and traditions of Saudi society, and results in disturbing public order and harming public and private interests”
The demonstrations have turned into protests against the Al Saud regime, especially since November 2011, when Saudi security forces killed five protesters and injured many others in Eastern Province.
According to Human Rights Watch, the Saudi regime “routinely represses expression critical of the government.”
“Saudi Arabia is basically toeing the policy of the Western powers, the policy of NATO in the Middle East in the name of the so-called Islam which it follows, the Wahhabi-Salafi Islam,” Wasif said.