SHAFAQNA- Taha Al-Haji says Al-Saud’s policies have united the out-of-state opposition. According to him, Muhammad bin Salman has transformed the former religious dictatorship into a secular dictatorship; a dictatorship that he believes is more repressive than religious dictatorship and so many have tried to get out of Saudi Arabia to seek asylum abroad and those who have not been able to get out are now in prison.
The Saudi lawyer, Taha al-Haji, in an interview described the situation of the Shias in the Eastern region and the provinces of Qatif and Al-Ahsa and human rights violations by the Saudi government. “The protests, known as the Arab Spring, by the people of Eastern Province (Qatif and Al-Ahsa) had a huge impact on the people of Bahrain. The people of Qatif and Al- Ahsa are bravely taking advantage of every opportunity to protest, and in these protests, people of all ages come from all walks of life,” Taha al-Haji, now living in Germany and wanted by the Saudi government, told Arabic-language Mirat al-Jazeera news website in an exclusive interview.
He further spoke of the discrimination that the Saudi government have on the people of Qatif and Al-Ahsa, who are mainly Shias and added, “They are not allowed to hold important positions and work in high-level institutions and it is impossible for them to access the security and diplomatic centers.” He also highlighted that at first the Saudi government acted cautiously in order to prevent these protests, but then began severe and brutal repression. At present, there is no family in Al-Qatif and Al-Ahsa that has ever experienced detention, murder or exile.
“The present situation is such that the Qatif people cannot repeat the experience of year 2011, because the repression has imposed a heavy cost on the Qatif people and Al-Ahsa. Silence of media, torture confessions, killings, out-of-court trials, and US support have caused fears and frustration among the public and many human rights activists have left Saudi Arabia,” the lawyer further stated.
Taha Al-Haji considers the Saudi government to be based on a unity of hardliners whose nature is radical. “No one can protest loudly, openly oppose the government, or even seek advice for reform or its legal right; No dissenting voice can be tolerated; of course, this case has been in the past, nevertheless, current authorities led by Mohammed bin Salman have set a brutal and unprecedented dictatorship that has crossed all red lines socially, culturally, religiously and politically and has no tolerance for any dissenting, sympathetic, or neutral voice. They do not accept criticism or any call for reforms. They have gone beyond that limit, and do not accept even neutral opinion, moderate voice or even silence. Anyone whose positions do not fully comply with the government will be subjected to the most brutal acts.” he added.
Integrity of the opponents
Al-Haji said that Al-Saud’s policies have united the out-of-state opposition. According to him, Muhammad bin Salman has transformed the former religious dictatorship into a secular dictatorship; a dictatorship that Taha Al-Haji believes is more repressive than religious dictatorship and so many have tried to get out of Saudi Arabia to seek asylum abroad and those who have not been able to get out are now in prison.
“Outsiders have managed to create a small community of different intellectual backgrounds who agree on a variety of issues, including corruption, repression, the need for protest and even silence, the condemnation of normalizing relations with Israel and opposition to the Yemen war,” he added. He described that the authorities cannot accept any voice that contradicts theirs, and said, “Opponents of the Saudi government should have been seeking documents to prove their point, but now anti-human rights and crackdowns have been made public.”
Torture and human rights violations
“The prisoners are severely tortured and the treatment with political and legal activists is much more severe,” the Saudi political lawyer said. He also reported the sexual harassment of female activists and child prisoners and inmates on death row. Al-Haji said that the torture would continue until the person was forced to sign a false confession sheet, and the judge would issue a ruling based on the same confession and pay no attention to the defense.
The Saudi lawyer described the Saudi courts as illegal and symbolic, and only for covert repression. Taha Al-Haji was in charge of some of the executions in last May, after which he was forced to flee Saudi Arabia and went to Germany. He has recently said that Saudi security agencies are seeking to assassinate him.
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