Hizbullah al-Hijaz: A history of the most radical saudi shi'a opposition group

Middle East Journal

Volumn 64, Issue 2, 2010, Pages 179-197

  Matthiesen, Toby ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LONDON   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE; ISLAMISM; POLITICAL VIOLENCE; TERRORISM;

SAUDI ARABIA;

EID: 77953211785     PISSN: 00263141     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3751/64.2.11     Document Type: Article

References (148)

1. Fouad Ibrahim, The Sh'is of Saudi Arabia (London: Saqi, 2006); Laurence Louer, Transnational Shiite Politics: Religious and Political Networks in the Gulf (London: Columbia University Press, 2008), and Joshua Teitelbaum, Holier Than Thou: Saudi Arabia's Islamic Opposition (Washington, DC: Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 2000), pp. 83-98.
2. th century, they have been subject to varying degrees of religious, political, and economic discrimination. Together with rapid socioeconomic changes in the Eastern Province and the influence of the Aramco worker movement, this has led to the widespread political mobilization of Saudi Shi'a communities since the 1950s. See Jacob Goldberg, "The Shi'i Minority in Saudi Arabia," in Juan R. I. Cole and Nikki R. Keddie, eds., Shi'ism and Social Protest (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986), pp. 230-46 and Guido Steinberg, "The Shiites in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia (al-Ahsa') 1913-1953," in Rainer Brunner and Werner Ende, eds., The Twelver Shia in modern Times: Religious Culture & Political History (Leiden: Brill, 2001), pp. 236-54.
3. Interview by author with a former member of Tajamu''Ulama' al-Hijaz, Saudi Arabia, November 2008. Louer writes that the movement was founded in 1983. Louer, Transnational Shiite Politics, p. 210.
4. It seems that Husayn al-Radi was more in charge of the logistical organization while the actual Hawza was headed subsequently by Hashim al-Shakhs, Husayn al-'Ayash, 'Abd al-Latif al-Nasir, 'Abdallah al-Yasin, all from al-Ahsa, and Nazar Isma'il from Qatif. See 'Abd al-'Azim al-Mushaykhas, Al-Qatif wa mulahaqatuha: ab'ad wa tatall'at [Qatif and its Surrounding Areas: dimensions and Outlooks], 2 Vols., Vol. 1 (Beirut: Sharika al-shaykh lil-tahqiq wa al-nashr, 2002), p. 490. See also interviews with Husayn al-Radi and 'Abdallah al-Yasin in Salman bin Husayn al-Hiji, Hakadha wajadtuhum [This Is How I Found Them] (Beirut: Jawatha lil-nashr, 2008).
5. Christin Marschall, Iran's Persian Gulf Policy: From Khomeini to Khatami (London: Routledge Curzon, 2003), p. 47.
6. Interview by author with a former leading member of the Islamic Revolution Organization (IRO), Saudi Arabia, November 2008.
7. Fuller and Francke argue that Hasan and Husayn al-Radi are distinct from both Hizbullah alHijaz and the IRO and look to Iran in the religious but not in the political sense, while also arguing that they are non-violent. Graham E. Fuller and Rend Rahim Francke, The Arab Shi'a: The Forgotten muslims (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999), pp. 190-93.
8. This information is taken from al-Radi's biography on his website: http://www.alradhy.com. Interview with Husayn al-Radi in al-Hiji, Hakatha wajadtuhum, pp. 102-8. Nikki R. Keddie and Yann Richard, modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), pp. 260, 277.
9. He later became the head of the judiciary in Iran. See http://hashemishahroudi.org/farsii/indexphp?option=com_content&view=article&id=5&Itemid=6.
10. Faleh A. Jabar, The Shi'ite movement in Iraq (London: Saqi, 2003), p. 111 and Al-Sayyid Hashim Muhammad al-Shakhs, A'lam hajar min al-madiyin wa al-mu'asirin [Prominent men of alAhsa from the Past and the Present] 4 Vols., Vol. 3 (Beirut: Mu'asasa um al-qura lil tahqiq wa al-nashr, 2004), pp. 294-96.
11. Interview by author with a former member of Tajamu''Ulama' al-Hijaz, Saudi Arabia, November 2008. Interview with Hashim al-Shakhs in al-Hiji, Hakadha Wajadtuhum, pp. 331-35.
12. Toby Jones, "Embattled in Arabia: Shi'is and the Politics of Confrontation in Saudi Arabia" (Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, 2009), p. 19.
13. Thomas Hegghammer and Stephen Lacroix, "Rejectionist Islamism in Saudi Arabia: The Story of Juhayman al-'Utaybi Revisited," International journal of middle east Studies, Vol. 39 (2007), pp. 103-22.
14. Fouad Ibrahim, The Shi'is of Saudi Arabia (London: Saqi, 2006), pp. 117-23; Toby Jones, "Rebellion on the Saudi Periphery: Modernity, Marginalization, and the Shi'a Uprising of 1979," International journal of middle east Studies, Vol. 38 (2006); Joseph Kostiner, "Shi'i Unrest in the Gulf," in Martin Kramer, ed., Shi'ism, Resistance, and Revolution (London: Westview Press, 1987); Robert Lacey, Inside the Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, modernists, Terrorists and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia (London: Hutchinson, 2009), pp. 37-45; Louer, Transnational Shiite Politics, pp. 161-67; Yitzhak Nakash, Reaching for Power: The Shi'a in the modern Arab World (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006), pp. 50-52; R.K. Ramazani, Revolutionary Iran: Challenge and Response in the middle east (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988), pp. 39-42; Madawi Rasheed, A History of Saudi Arabia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), pp. 146-48, and Yaroslav Trofimov, The Siege of mecca: The Forgotten uprising (London: Allen Lane, 2007), pp. 179-86, 198-201.
15. 'Abd al-Rahman al-Shaykh, Salih al-Duhayl, and 'Abdallah al-zair, Intifada al-mintaqa alsharqiya 1400h-1979m [The uprising of the eastern Province 1979] (Munadhama al-thawra al-islamiya fi al-jazira al-'arabiya, 1981); Fi dhikra al-intifada [In Remembrance of the Intifada] (London: Munadhama al-thawra al-islamiya fi al-jazira al-'arabiya, 1984/85), and Intifada al-muharam fi almintaqa al-sharqiya: al-halqa al-ula (watha'iq al-intifada) [The muharam uprising in the eastern Province: The First Part (documents of the uprising)] (Munadhama al-thawra al-islamiya bi al-jazira al-'arabiya "al-sa'udiya," 1979).
16. See for example Risalat al-Haramayn, No. 0, 1989; No. 9, 1990; No. 10, 1990.
17. Interview by author with a former leading member of the MVM, Damascus, Syria, August 2008.
18. Kenneth Katzman, The Warriors of Islam: Iran's Revolutionary Guard (Boulder: Westview Press, 1993), p. 98f; Louer, Transnational Shiite Politics: Religious and Political Networks in the Gulf, p. 179; 'Adil Ru'uf, Al-'amal al-islami fi al-'iraq bayna al marja'iyya wa al-hizbiya: qira'a naqdiya li masira nisf qarn (1950-2000) [The Islamic Action in Iraq between the marja'iyya and the Party System: A Critical Reading for the Voyage of Half a Century (1950-2000)] (Damascus: Almarkaz al-'iraqi lil i'lam wa al-dirasat, 2000), pp. 285-92.
19. Interview by author with Ahmad al-Katib, a former leader of the MVM, London, September 2008. Ahmad al-Katib, Al-marja'iyya al-diniyya al-shi'iyya... wa afaq al-tatawwur: Al-Imam muhammad al-Shirazi namudhajan [The Shi'a Religious marj'aiyya... and the Horizons of evolution: The Imam muhammad al-Shirazi as an example] (Beirut: Arab Scientific Publishers, 2007); Ibrahim, The Shi'is of Saudi Arabia, pp. 98-102, and Louer, Transnational Shiite Politics: Religious and Political Networks in the Gulf, pp. 97, 186-93.
20. Jabar, The Shi'ite movement in Iraq, p. 222; Ru'uf, Al-'amal al-islami fi al-'iraq bayna al-marja'iyya wa al-hizbiya: qira'a naqdiya li masira nisf qarn (1950-2000), pp. 261-65; Joyce N. Wiley, The Islamic movement of Iraqi Shi'as (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1992), p. 54f, and Rashid Hamada 'Asifa fawqa miyah al-khalij: qissa awwal inqilab 'askari fi al-bahrayn 1981 [A Storm on the Waters of the Gulf: Story of the First military Revolution in bahrain 1981] (London: Al-safa li'l-nashr wa al-tawzi'a, 1990).
21. Interview by author with a former leading member of the MVM, August 2008.
22. 'Adil al-Labad, Al-Inqilab: bai'al-wahm 'ala al-dhat [The Revolution: The Selling of the Illusion to the Self] (Beirut: Dar al-jamal li'l-tab'a wa al-nashr, 2009), p. 153 and Fouad Ibrahim, The Shi'is of Saudi Arabia (London: Saqi, 2006), p.134.
23. Four Saudi Shi'a from Tarut and al-Ahsa died in September 1986 in Iraqi Kurdistan and another in 1987. See the portraits of the "martyrs" in Risalat al-Haramayn, No. 43/44, August/September 1993, http://www.alhramain.com.
24. Interview by author with a former leading member of the IRO, Saudi Arabia, November 2008.
25. Interview by author with a former leading member of the MVM, Damascus, Syria, August 2008.
26. Only three or four issues were published. Interview by author with a former member of Tajamu''Ulama' al-Hijaz, Saudi Arabia, November 2008; Hamza al-Hasan, "Al-mu'arada fi al-sa'udiyya: al-tarjuh bayna alhawa al-iqlimi wa al-wataniya al-jam'a" ["The Opposition in Saudi: Oscillation between Regional Sentiment and Comprehensive Nationalism"], Al-jazira Al-'Arabiya, No. 18 (July 1992), pp. 40-47, esp. 46f. Some argue that Tajamu''Ulama' al-Hijaz issued another publication called al-manar. Husayn Musa, Al-ahzab wa al-harakat al-islamiyya fi al-khalij wa al-jazira al-'arabiya [Islamic Parties and movements in the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula] (Manama: 2004), p. 67.
27. See interview with Shaykh Hasan al-Hasan in Risalat al-Haramayn: "Responsible for foreign relations of the Tajammu Ulama al-Hijaz," Risalat al-Haramayn, No. 15, 1991.
28. Louer, Transnational Shiite Politics: Religious and Political Networks in the Gulf, pp. 183-86 and Ibrahim, The Shi'is of Saudi Arabia, p. 145.
29. Katzman, The Warriors of Islam, p. 150f; Keddie and Richard, modern Iran, p. 260; Louer, Transnational Shiite Politics, p. 184f, and Baqer Moin, Khomeini: life of the Ayatollah (London: I. B. Tauris, 1999), p. 263f.
30. Ibrahim, The Shi'is of Saudi Arabia, p. 143.
31. Interview by author with a former leading member of the IRO, Damascus, Syria, August 2008.
32. Interview by author with a former representative of the IRO in Qom, Damascus, Syria, August 2008.
33. Marschall, Iran's Persian Gulf Policy, p. 52-55. Martin Kramer, Arab Awakening and Islamic Revival: The Politics of Ideas in the middle east (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1996), pp. 170-78.
34. J.E. Peterson, Historical dictionary of Saudi Arabia (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993), p. 122.
35. This included the publication of propaganda materials about the Mecca event. For pro-Iranian accounts see Muhammad Hadi al-Amini, makka (Tehran: 1988) and The Mission of Imam Khomeini, Nazra 'ala madhbaha al-haram [A View on the bloodbath in the Holy Place] (Markaz al-hajj lildirasat wa al-nashr).
36. Louer, Transnational Shiite Politics, p. 211.
37. This statement, which was published on August 7, 1987 in al-Safir, is reproduced in Fahd alQahtani, majzara makka: qisa al-madhbaha al-sa'udiya lil-hujaj [The mecca massacre: The Story of the Saudi bloodbath of the Pilgrims] (London: Al-safa lil nashr wa al-tawzi'a, 1988). See also Press Communiqué by Hizbullah al-Hijaz refuting statements made by al-Safar to Al Arabiya TV Channel, March 9, 2005, http://www.alhramain.com.
38. "The Shiite Question in Saudi Arabia" ('Amman and Brussels: International Crisis Group, 2005), p. 6. The report mentions a certain 'Abdulrahman al-Hubayl, who is probably 'Abd al-Karim al-Hubayl. E-mail correspondence with the author of the report, July 2009.
39. Interview by author with a former leading member of the MVM, Damascus, Syria, August 2008.
40. Interview by author with a former member of Hizbullah al-Hijaz, Beirut, Lebanon, August 2008.
41. Interview by author with a former leading member of the IRO, Damascus, Syria, August 2008.
42. Al-Hasan, "Al-mu'arada fi al-sa'udiya: al-tarja bayna al-hawa al-iqlimi wa al-wataniya aljam'a," p. 47 and Husayn Musa, Al-ahzab wa al-harakat al-islamiya fi al-khalij wa al-jazira al-'arabiya [The Islamic Parties and movements in the Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula] (n.p: 2004), p. 41.
43. Ibrahim, The Shi'is of Saudi Arabia, p. 142.
44. Marschall, Iran's Persian Gulf Policy, p. 38; Peterson, Historical dictionary of Saudi Arabia, p. 122; "Mine Sinks Vessel in a Staging Area for Gulf Shipping," The New york Times, August 16, 1987; "8 U.S. Helicopters arrive for mission to sweep the Gulf," The New york Times, August 17, 1987, and "Saudi Group tied to Other Attacks," The New york Times, March 29, 1997. The IRO's publication argued that the arrests after the attacks proved that it was not an accident. See Al-Thawra Al-Islamiya, No. 98, May 1988, pp. 8-13.
45. Al-Thawra Al-Islamiya, No. 98, May 1988, pp. 8-13; "Saudis and Iran: New Assertiveness," The New york Times, May 4, 1988, and "Saudi Arabia Beheads 16 Kuwaitis Linked to Pro-Iranian Terrorism," The New york Times, September 22, 1989.
46. Their names are Azhar 'Ali al-Hujaj, Khalid 'Abd al-Hamid al-Ulq, 'Ali 'Abdallah Khatim, and Muhammad 'Ali al-Qarus. First four issues of Risalat al-Haramayn, 1989-1990. See Al-Thawra Al-Islamiya, No. 105, December 1988.
47. Al-Hasan, "Al-mu'arada fi al-sa'udiya: al-tarja bayna al-hawa al-iqlimi wa al-wataniya aljam'a."
48. Mordechai Abir, Saudi Arabia: Government, Society and the Gulf Crisis (London: Routledge, 1993), p. 158; Ibrahim, The Shi'is of Saudi Arabia, p. 142; "The Gulf Shi'ites: Poorer Cousins," Time magazine, September 24, 1990, and Al-Hasan, "Al-mu'arada fi al-sa'udiya: al-tarja bayna al-hawa al-iqlimi wa al-wataniya al-jam'a." See also statement by Hizbullah al-Hijaz, "Ishtibak majmu'a min hizbullah ma'quwat amn al-nizam" ["Scuffle of a group of Hizbullah with the regime's security forces"], August 5, 1988, http://www.alhramain.com. See the portraits of the "martyrs" in Risalat alHaramayn, No. 43/44, August/September 1993, http://www.alhramain.com.
49. Al-Thawra Al-Islamiya, October 1988, No. 103, pp. 18-32. Abir, Saudi Arabia, p. 158.
50. Al-Thawra Al-Islamiya, May 1988, No. 98, pp. 8-13.
51. See http://www.alhramain.com.
52. Al-Thawra Al-Islamiya, November 1988, No. 104, p. 19 and Marschall, Iran's Persian Gulf Policy, p. 38.
53. Ibrahim, The Shi'is of Saudi Arabia, p. 142 and Al-Thawra Al-Islamiya, No. 103, October 1988, pp. 18-32.
54. Four clerics associated with Hizbullah al-Hijaz, 'Abd al-Karim al-Hubayl, Ja'far al-Mubarak, 'Abd al-Latif al-Nasir and 'Abdallah al-Nimr remained in prison until 1993. See Risalat al-Haramayn, No. 32, 1992. Abdullah al-Nimr from al-Ahsa was arrested in 1988 after his return from abroad. See Arabia monitor, No. 9, October 1992, p. 8.
55. Ibrahim, The Shi'is of Saudi Arabia, p. 182.
56. "Saudis Overhaul Secret Service after Terrorist Killings," The Independent, January 14, 1989.
57. "Pro-Iranian Terror Groups targeting Saudi Envoys," The New york Times, January 8, 1989.
58. Risalat al-Haramayn, No. 0, 1989.
59. "Pro-Iranian Terror Groups targeting Saudi Envoys," The New york Times, January 8, 1989 and "Saudis overhaul secret service after terrorist killings." It is unclear if this group is related to the Holy War Organization (munadhama al-jihad al-Islami), which had claimed responsibility for kidnappings and killings, mainly in Lebanon, since the early 1980s. See Robert Fisk, Pity the Nation: The Abduction of lebanon (New York: Nation Books, 2002) and Louer, Transnational Shiite Politics, p. 175.
60. Joshua Teitelbaum, "Saudi Arabia's Shi'i Opposition: Background and Analysis," Policy Watch, No. 225 (1996), p. 1; "Saudi Group tied to Other Attacks," The New york Times, March 29, 1997; Abir, Saudi Arabia, p. 158f; Centre de recherche sur les Menaces Criminelles Contemporaines, Atlas mondial de l'Activisme [World Alas of Activism] (1990), p. 35f; Risalat al-Haramayn, No. 0, 1989; No. 5, 1990, and Peterson, Historical dictionary of Saudi Arabia, p. 122.
61. "Saudi Arabia Beheads 16 Kuwaitis Linked to Pro-Iranian Terrorism," The New york Times, September 22, 1989.
62. Interview with 'Ali al-Ahmad, Washington, DC, November 2009.
63. See statement by Hizbullah al-Hijaz, "bi munasiba al-i'tiqalat fi al-mintaqa al-sharqiya" ["On the Occasion of the Arrests in the Eastern Province"], July 10, 1989, http://www.alhramain.com.
64. Centre de recherche sur les Menaces Criminelles Contemporaines, Atlas mondial de l'Activisme (1990), p. 36. See also the press communiqués by both organizations in Risalat al-Haramayn, No. 0, 1989.
65. Centre de recherche sur les Menaces Criminelles Contemporaines, Atlas mondial de l'Activisme (1990), p. 36; Risalat al-Haramayn, No. 1, 1989, and "U.S. Links Teheran to Terror Squads," The New york Times, November 12, 1989.
66. Interview with a former member of Hizbullah al-Hijaz, Beirut, Lebanon, August 2008; "Indictment against Saudi Hizbullah Members/Khobar Bombings," (United States District Court Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division June 2001), and Jones, "Embattled in Arabia: Shi'is and the Politics of Confrontation in Saudi Arabia," p. 20.
67. For the portrait of the "martyr" 'Abd al-Latif al-Qatan, who died in July 1991, see Risalat alHaramayn, No. 23, 1991 and No. 43/44 (August/September 1993).
68. Shahram Chubin and Charles Tripp, Iran-Saudi Arabia Relations and Regional Order: Iran and Saudi Arabia in the balance of Power in the Gulf (London: International Institute for Strategic Studies, 1996), p. 18; Henner Fürtig, Iran's Rivalry with Saudi Arabia between the Gulf Wars (Reading: Ithaca Press 2002), pp. 93-139, and Christin Marschall, Iran's Persian Gulf Policy: From Khomeini to Khatami (London: Routledge Curzon, 2003), p. 100f.
69. Saleh al-Mani', "The Ideological Dimension in Saudi-Iranian Relations," in Jamal S. al-Suwaida, ed., Iran and the Gulf: A Search for Stability (Abu Dhabi: The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, 1996) and Chubin and Tripp, Iran-Saudi Arabia Relations and Regional Order, pp. 48-65.
70. RAND, "Saudi-Iranian Relations since the Fall of Saddam: Rivalry, Cooperation, and Implications for U.S. Policy," 2009, p. 19 and Al-Hasan, "Al-mu'arada fi al-sa'udiya: al-tarja bayna al-hawa al-iqlimi wa al-wataniya al-jam'a."
71. Risalat al-Haramayn, No. 26, 1991. The al-Haramayn Islamic Information Centre was founded in 1988 and established a website in the 1990s: http://www.alhramain.com.
72. It specifically focused on Khomeini's theory of jihad. Risalat al-Haramayn, No. 0, 1989 and No. 6/7, 1990.
73. Louer, Transnational Shiite Politics, pp. 275-85.
74. Interview by author with a former member of Tajamu''Ulama' al-Hijaz, Saudi Arabia, November 2008 and interview by author with a former leading member of the IRO, Switzerland, December 2008.
75. See Risalat al-Haramayn, No. 5 and No. 9, 1990. One of the founders of the movement, 'Abd al-Karim al-Hubayl, comes from the same village. Risalat al-Haramayn, No. 18, 1991, p. 27.
76. st Century: An Analytical Study of the Present and the Future of the Shi'a Islamic Society in the Third millenium] (n.p.: Dar al-Arab, 2007); Al-Thawra al-Islamiyya, No. 105, December 1988, and the website "Qatif Martyrs," http://www.shaheedsh.com.
77. Al-Shakhs, A'lam hajar min al-madiyin wa al-mu'asirin.
78. Risalat al-Haramayn, No. 0, 1989.
79. Risalat al-Haramayn, No. 26, 1991.
80. Risalat al-Haramayn, No. 34, 1992.
81. Interview with an unnamed cleric of Hizbullah al-Hijaz in Risalat al-Haramayn, No. 0, 1989.
82. Interview with an unnamed cleric of Hizbullah al-Hijaz in Risalat al-Haramayn, No. 0, 1989.
83. Risalat al-Haramayn, No. 11, 1990; No. 12, 1990; No. 13, 1990; No. 15, 1991; and No. 17, 1991.
84. Teitelbaum, Holier Than Thou, pp. 25-47.
85. See for example Risalat al-Haramayn, No. 40 and No. 41, 1993. For the discursive shift of the IRO, see Mamoun Fandy, Saudi Arabia and the Politics of dissent (Basingstoke, UK: Macmillan, 1999), pp. 195-228; Ibrahim, The Shi'is of Saudi Arabia, and Madawi Rasheed, "The Shia of Saudi Arabia: A Minority in Search of Cultural Authenticity," british journal of middle eastern Studies, Vol. 25, No. 1 (1998), pp. 121-38.
86. Several interviews by author with former leading members of the IRO, Saudi Arabia, Syria, London, 2008; 'Abd al-Nabi al-'Akri, Al-tanzimat al-yasariyya fi al-jazira wa al-khalij al-'arabi [The leftist Organizations in the Peninsula and the Arabian Gulf] (Beirut: Dar al-kunuz al-adabiya, 2003), p. 56; Fuller and Francke, The Arab Shi'a, pp. 189-91, and Ibrahim, The Shi'is of Saudi Arabia, pp. 178-208.
87. Email correspondence with Jaafar al-Shayeb, 2009 and Nakash, Reaching for Power, p. 131.
88. For a critique of the agreement by a former Saudi member of the Bahraini wing of the MVM, al-jabha al-Islamiyya li Tahrir al-bahrayn (Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain), see al-Labad, Al-inqilab: bai'al-wahm 'ala al-dhat, pp. 371-91.
89. Interview by author with a former leading member of the IRO, Switzerland, December 2008.
90. Riad Najib al-Rayis, Riyah al-sumum: al-sa'udiya wa du'ul al-jazira b'ad harb al-khalij 1991-1994 [Poisonous Winds: Saudi Arabia and the Peninsula States after the Gulf War 1991-1994] (London-Beirut-Cyprus: Riad el-Rayyes Books, 1994), p. 212.
91. Risalat al-Haramayn, No. 45, October 1993.
92. Haytham al-Safwani, "muqadimmat al-'afu al-sa'udi wa mu'tiatihi" ["The beginnings of the Saudi Amnesty and its Facts"], al-Nasr, No. 35, pp. 53-56.
93. Interview by author with Hamza al-Hasan, London, April 2008.
94. Ibrahim, The Shi'is of Saudi Arabia, p. 196.
95. Interview by author with a former Tajamu''Ulama' al-Hijaz member, Saudi Arabia, November 2008 and interview by author with a former leading member of the IRO, Damascus, Syria, August 2008.
96. Ibrahim, The Shi'is of Saudi Arabia, p. 197.
97. "Saudis Crack Down on an Obscure Shiite Militant Group," The New york Times, October 31, 1996.
98. Risalat al-Haramayn, No. 45, October 1993.
99. "Saudis Crack Down on an Obscure Shiite Militant Group."
100. Interview by author with a former Tajamu''Ulama' al-Hijaz member, Saudi Arabia, November 2008.
101. Jones, "Embattled in Arabia: Shi'is and the Politics of Confrontation in Saudi Arabia," p. 20; "Saudis hold 40 Suspects in Dhahran Bombing," The Guardian, November 2, 1996, and "Saudis give FBI evidence of Iran bomb attack links," The Times, December 12, 1996.
102. Statement by Tajamu''Ulama' al-Hijaz, "I'tiqalat rijal al-din fi al-hijaz" ["Arrests of Men of Religion in the Hijaz"], September 2, 1996, http://www.alhramain.com. The list includes names of 24 clerics that were arrested after the Khobar bombings. They mainly come from al-Ahsa, Safwa, Tarut, Dammam, and certain areas of Qatif.
103. Interview by author with a former detainee, Saudi Arabia, October 2008.
104. "Independent Review of the Khobar Towers Bombing" (Washington, DC: US Air Force, 1996); "Report to the President and Congress on the Protection of U.S. Forces Deployed Abroad" (Washington, DC: US Department of Defense, 1996), and "The Khobar Towers Bombing Incident" (Washington, DC: House National Security Committee, 1996).
105. Anthony H. Cordesman, "Islamic Extremism in Saudi Arabia and the Attack on Al Khobar" (Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2001) and Gareth Porter, "Khobar Towers Investigated: How a Saudi Deception Protected Osama Bin Laden," Inter Press Service News Agency, June 24, 2009.
106. Richard A. Clarke, Against All enemies: Inside America's War on Terror (New York: Free Press, 2004), p. 118.
107. "Indictment against Saudi Hizbullah Members/Khobar Bombings."
108. Porter, "Khobar Towers Investigated: How a Saudi Deception Protected Osama Bin Laden," and "Perry: U.S. eyed Iran attack after bombing," UPI, June 6, 2007. Both Sunni and Shi'a opposition figures such as Sa'd al-Faqih and and Hamza al-Hasan advocate this theory. Faqih is cited in A. Gresh, "The Unsolved Mystery of a Saudi Bomb Attack," le monde diplomatique (September 1997) and Hamza al-Hasan, "mu'ataqalu tafjir al-khubar: intahat al-riwaya al-sa'udiya" ["The Khobar Bombing Prisoners: The Saudi Narrative Finished"], June 23, 2009, http://www.moltaqaa.com. Porter argues that evidence leading to Bin Ladin and al-Qa'ida's involvement was not taken seriously and that this was part of a strategy by the Saudi regime to protect al-Qa'ida and blame the attack on Saudi Shi'ites and Iran. See Porter, "Khobar Towers Investigated: How a Saudi Deception Protected Osama Bin Laden."
109. Thomas Hegghammer, "Deconstructing the Myth About Al-Qa'ida and Khobar," CTC Sentinel, Vol. 1, No. 3 (2008), p. 22.
110. "Saudi Militants are Sentenced in'96 Bombing," The New york Times, June 2, 2002 and "Convicted Khobar Bombers are All Saudis," Arab News, June 14, 2002.
111. They include Fadil al-'Alawi, who was arrested in March 1996 at the Saudi-Jordanian border with explosives in his car, as well as 'Ali al-Marhun, Mustafa al-Mu'allim, and Salih al-Ramadan, all arrested in April 1996. The others are Mustafa al-Qasab, 'Abdallah al-Jarash, Husayn al-Mughis, Hani al-Sayigh, and 'Abd al-Karim al-Nimr, who was arrested in 1999. Human Rights Watch, "Precarious Justice: Arbitrary Detention and Unfair Trials in the Deficient Criminal Justice System of Saudi Arabia" (2008), pp. 125-28. Shi'a activists have established a website for these prisoners: http://www.mansioon.info.
112. "Infijar al-khubar: dirasa tawthiqiya mufasala li tafjir mabna sakan al-quwat al-jawiya alamrikiya fi madina al-khubar wa al-ladhi waqa'a bi tarikh 25/6/1996" ["The Khobar Bombing: A Detailed Documentary Study of the Explosion of the Residence Building of the American Air Forces in the City al-Khobar that Took Place on 25/6/1996"] (Markaz al-haramayn li'l-i'alam al-islami [AlHaramayn Islamic Information Center], 2002), pp. 84-86.
113. Hizbullah al-Hijaz had earlier claimed that it did not send the statement that was published by AP under its name. See statement by Hizbullah al-Hijaz: "Rada al-hizb 'ala wakala AP wa i'alam al-nizam" ["The Party Refutes the AP News Agency and the Regime's Media"], November 15, 1996, http://www.alhramain.com.
114. "Infijar al-Khubar," p. 71.
115. These are the Kata'ib al-Shahid 'Abdallah al-Khadhifi [Units of the Martyr 'Abdallah al-Khadhifi] and al-Haraka al-Islamiyya min Ajl al-Taghayyur [Islamic Movement for Change.] "Infijar Al-Khubar," pp. 31-33. See also Teitelbaum, Holier Than Thou: Saudi Arabia's Islamic Opposition, p. 85.
116. "Infijar al-Khubar," p. 75.
117. "Infijar al-Khubar,"p. 89.
118. "Intifijar al-Khubar," pp. 67-70.
119. Biography of "al-Shahid ja'far al-Shuwaykhat." See "Shuhada' al-Hijaz," http://www.alwelayah.net.
120. Faris bin Hazam, "Hizbullah al-Hijaz," http://www.alarabiya.net/views/2005/12/06/19235.html.
121. Interviews by author with Saudi Shi'a, Saudi Arabia and Syria, 2008. For more on al-Shuwaykhat, see Ed Blanche, "Security and Stability in the Middle East - the Al-Khobar Factor," jane's Intelligence Review (June 2001).
122. "Infijar al-Khubar," pp. 100-3.
123. "Rada al-hizb 'ala wakala AP wa i'alam al-nizam."
124. See statement of Hizbullah al-Hijaz: "bayan i'lami raddan 'ala al-itihamat al-amrikiya bi khusus infijar al-khubar" ["Press Statement Refuting the American Accusations with Regards to the Khobar Bombing"], June 23, 2001, http://www.alhramain.com.
125. Hegghammer, "Deconstructing the Myth About Al-Qa'ida and Khobar," p. 22.
126. RAND, "Saudi-Iranian Relations since the Fall of Saddam: Rivalry, Cooperation, and Implications for U.S. Policy," p. 20f; Teitelbaum, Holier Than Thou: Saudi Arabia's Islamic Opposition, p. 94; Majid 'Alawi, "Al-ittifaqiya al-amniya bayna al-sa'udiya wa iran" ["The Security Agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran"], Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, April 30, 2001, and 'Abd al-Hamid Quds, "Alsa'udiyya kharaqat al-khutut al-humr: 'alaqa mutawatira qadima bayna al-sa'udiyya wa iran" ["Saudi Arabia Crossed the Red Lines: Coming Strained Relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran"], al-Hijaz, No. 81, July 15, 2009, p. 12f.
127. Blanche, "Security and Stability in the Middle East - the Al-Khobar Factor."
128. Associated Press, "Iran to ask Saudi to free Shiites jailed since 1996 bombing," February 28, 1998.
129. Hasan al-Mustafa, "Khalaya iran al-na'ima" ["Iran's Sleeping Cells"], Al-Waqt, April 4, 2007.
130. Interview by author with a former Tajamu''Ulama' al-Hijaz member, Saudi Arabia, November 2008.
131. Interview by author with Saudi Shi'a, Saudi Arabia, November 2008.
132. Ibrahim, The Shi'is of Saudi Arabia, p. 217; RAND, "Saudi-Iranian Relations since the Fall of Saddam," p. 31f, and "The Shiite Question in Saudi Arabia," p. 10.
133. Interview by author with a Saudi Shi'a cleric, London, 2008.
134. Interview by author with Ghanim al-Jawad, London, July 2009. See also, Jabar, The Shi'ite movement in Iraq, pp. 96, 112f and Wiley, The Islamic movement of Iraqi Shi'as, pp. 157-59.
135. Leo Kwarten, "Why the Saudi Shiites Won't Rise up Easily," Conflicts Forum Monograph, 2009, p. 10.
136. See http://www.alradhy.com.
137. See http://www.rasid.com and Louer, Transnational Shiite Politics: Religious and Political Networks in the Gulf, p. 249. Al-Hamad is a cleric from the island of Tarut, where he is now Friday prayer leader.
138. See http://www.fajrweb.net. Another example is http://www.walfajr.net.
139. The website was, at some point, registered to an address in Beirut. See Joshua Teitelbaum, "Dueling For Da'wa: State Vs. Society on the Saudi Internet," The middle east journal, Vol. 56, No. 2 (2002), p. 227.
140. See for example, "bayan hizbullah al-hijaz ithra al-malahim al-batuliya fi lubnan wa tasrih bani sa'ud al-khiyani" ["Statement of Hizbullah al-Hijaz after the Heroic Battles in Lebanon and the Traitorous Statement of the Bani Sa'ud"] July 14, 2006; http://www.alhramain.com, and Laurence Louer, "la mouvance Hezbollah, une internationale liée à l'Iran" ["The Hizbullah Movement: An International Linked to Iran"], July 21, 2006, http://www.telos-eu.com.
141. See http://www.alhramain.com.
142. Toby Jones, "Saudi Arabia's Not So New Anti-Shi'ism," middle east Report, Vol. 242 (Spring 2007).
143. E-mail correspondence by author with Fuad Ibrahim, January 2010 and "Middle East crisis: Arab anger: Militants merge with mainstream: Hizbullah emerges as symbol of resistance: Anger at Israel's actions unites Shias and Sunnis," The Guardian, August 5, 2006.
144. Interview with Hassan al-Safar, Al Arabiya TV Channel, March 4 2005, http://www.alarabiya.net/save_print.php?print=1&cont_id=10957.
145. Press Communiqué by Hizbullah al-Hijaz refuting statements made by al-Safar to Al Arabiya TV Channel, March 9, 2005, http://www.alhramain.com.
146. Al-Rasid Al-Sahafi, No. 14, May 2008, http://www.alhramain.com.
147. Al-Rasid Al-Sahafi, No. 12, March 2008, http://www.alhramain.com.
148. Hizbullah al-Hijaz issued a statement condemning the events. For more on the clashes in Medina see Toby Matthiesen, "The Shi'a of Saudi Arabia at a Crossroads," middle east Report Online, May 6, 2009.