Tarek Fatah - Saudi barbarity, Iranian hypocrisy
The idiom “pot calling the kettle black” was perfectly
illustrated by Islamic Iran’s outrage over the public executions of 47 people
by Islamic Saudi Arabia on Jan. 2. As horrific and detestable as the Saudi actions that
included the beheading of human rights and democracy activist Nimr el-Nimr
were, it was laughable to watch Iran’s hypocritical self-righteousness in
response.
Since 1979, Iran has executed tens of thousands of political
dissidents, most infamously its state-sponsored execution of at least 5,000
political prisoners across Iran in the summer of 1988. Decades later the Iranian Islamic regime still makes a
public spectacle of hanging political prisoners in city squares, using cranes
to magnify the image of men writhing as they die a slow death by strangulation.
The fact Iran is the only Mideast country that carries out
more executions than Saudi Arabia annually and globally is second only to China
— was lost on Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who in a fit of
contrived self-righteousness warned, “divine vengeance will befall Saudi
politicians” for carrying out the executions.
According to Amnesty International, at least 151 people were
executed in Saudi Arabia during 2015. While Amnesty does not cite figures for Iranian executions
in 2015, it quotes “reliable sources” putting the number at 743 executions, at
least, in 2014.
That said, there’s no question Saudi Arabia’s disgraceful
actions have added a new and unnecessary complexity into a region extending
from North Africa to the Indian subcontinent. As a result, 2015 may well have been the calm before the
storm. If building world consensus to confront the threat posed by
the Islamic State (ISIS) and al-Qaida was a jigsaw puzzle, the Saudi action
just transformed into Rubik’s Cube.
So who was Nimr el-Nimr whose ghost now looms large over the
war zones of the Middle East and Islam’s fight with itself? He was a 57-year old Shia Arab from Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich
Eastern Province (once known as Al-Ahsa until it was invaded and occupied by
the Saudi family just after the First World War). He was well-known for his harsh criticism of Saudi Arabia’s
ruling family. In 2009, he threatened to lead a secessionist movement to
end the Saudi occupation of the oil-rich Al-Ahsa province that was once
historically part of today’s Bahrain.
Although he was Shia, he had made it known in no uncertain
terms he had no links with the Iranian regime. WikiLeaks reported that in a
meeting with U.S. diplomats in 2008, el-Nimr sought to distance himself from
Tehran. He told the Americans Iran, like other countries, acts out
of self-interest, and Saudi Shiites shouldn’t expect Iranian support based on
sectarian unity.
If only the Americans had the wisdom to discern Saudi
manipulation using petrodollars and the facts that would serve the interests of
peace and progress. The current lot seeking to replace President Barack Obama
does not offer much promise.
This is how Republican front-runner Donald Trump summarized
his understanding of the Saudi-Iran flare-up: “Iran, with all of the money and all else given to them by
Obama, has wanted a way to take over Saudi Arabia and their oil. They just
found it.” Where Franklin D. Roosevelt once sat, where JFK stared down
the USSR and Ronald Reagan defeated communism, we now might have The Donald.
Both the Iranians and Saudis are laughing.
see also
The religious persecution of Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (1945-2010)/ Interview: My life fighting intolerance/ Mahmoud Mohammed Taha & the Second Message of Islam
Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd's Legacy (Library of writings)
Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd's Legacy (Library of writings)
Mahmoud Mohammed Taha was a Sudanese religious thinker and leader executed for apostasy at the age of 76 by the regime of Gaafar Nimeiry. (See his Court statement)
