Monday, April 6, 2009

Shia Arrests

Our topic was population dynamics and migration so I found some news claiming 35 Shia citizens were arrested. They were arrested after a protest in support of a man named Sheikh Namr Baqer An-Namr gave a sermon. The article claims that the Shia are only 10% of the 22 million and that the majority live in the oil-rich eastern part of the country. The man who is currently Minister of the Interior, Nayef, looks to be the next on the throne for Saudi which would probably mean a bigger crackdown on the Shias in the east as he already has a rough reputation in treating the Shia people of KSA. The Shia are marginalised by numbers but in terms of power, they hold access to the major oil fields and also the refineries and processing facilities. The Shia have reduced the movement in the commodity chain and are able to make a lot of profit taking the oil-making process from start to almost finished. Many non-Shia Saudis believe for some reason or another that the Shia in KSA are led and connected to Iran and that they follow an Iranian agenda.

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