Three Saudi Shi’ites killed by Stray Bullets

Three Saudi Shi’ites killed by stray bullets
by Goran Tomasevic – Nov 22, 2011

DUBAI – (REUTERS) Three Shi’ite Muslims have been killed in eastern Saudi Arabia by what was reported as stray bullets fired by police, a Saudi activist said on Tuesday, raising tensions ahead of the Ashura holiday which has prompted clashes in the past.

Tawfiq al-Saif, an activist, told Reuters that the government was sending a team of investigators to the town of al-Qatif to investigate the deaths, which have angered Shi’ites in the oil-producing Eastern Province. An Interior Ministry spokesman was not immediately available to comment on the report.

Saudi Arabia has escaped the popular protests that have swept three Arab heads of state from power this year, after the world’s largest oil exporter offered a major package of incentives to its citizens. But small-scale protests have taken place in the Eastern Province, where most of the kingdom’s Shi’ite Muslims live. Activists said authorities responded by deploying armed riot police who had set up checkpoints.

The Eastern Province is the center of Saudi Arabia’s oil production facilities and is connected by a 16-mile causeway to Bahrain, where Riyadh sent troops earlier this year to help the Sunni government end a Shi’ite uprising. Saudi Shi’ites complain of systematic discrimination, which is denied by the authorities. King Abdullah has appointed members of the sect to advisory government bodies.

Saif said that a 19-year-old technical college student died on Sunday by what police had told his family was a stray bullet fired during a clash between security forces and unknown assailants. On Monday, a girl was shot and killed and another young man, believed to be aged 24, was also shot dead during a march in al-Qatif. The activist said they were hit by stray bullets.

“Opening fire is a big mistake, especially as we approaching Ashura,” Saif said, referring to the holiday when Shi’ite Muslims mark the anniversary of the slaying of Prophet Mohammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein, in 680. This year Ashura falls in early December.

Saif said that unlike provincial police, who had always held back from opening fire even during protest marches, shooting into the air had increased since riot police were deployed earlier this year in the province. He said he hoped that an investigative team being sent by the Saudi government to look into the incidents would calm tensions . “We expect this committee to work in a neutral way, to calm tensions. I hope it will calm spirits,” he added. …more