Saudi petrodollars to accelerate spread of terrorism in West: Analyst

Press TV has conducted an interview with Saeed Shahabi, Middle East expert currently in Tehran, to discuss the recent remarks by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Saudi Arabia’s execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Welcome to the program. Let’s start off with the recent comments made by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani regarding the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr by the Saudi government.

Shahabi: Well, I think the execution is a big crime by the Saudi regime. Of course, it is not the first and it will not be the last; it is the nature of this regime to execute its opponents not just now, but if we go back for example to 1980 after the incident of the holy Haram when Juhayman al-Otaibi and his group occupied the Ka’aba. Of course, we do not condone occupation of the Ka’aba; that is a sacred place which should have been spared the use of arms. However, more than 63 people were subsequently executed in 1980. But since then, there have not been so many executions in one go; I mean to have mass killing of people in jail who were supposedly tried in kangaroo courts, the nature of which are not known by others and nothing is done about the timing or the procedural practice of that court. To kill all of these in one go is simply an outrage; it is simply a crime. Now among them as we know, is Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. If the others or some of them may have used arms or may have been planning terrorist acts, differently Sheikh Nimr is not one of those. Sheikh Nimr only spoke his mind. He said we want some changes, some reforms of the system in Bahrain, in Saudi Arabia and in the Muslim world. I think this is the call of every sincere citizen in the Arab and the Muslim world. You cannot continue to be ruled by tribes, by clans, by dictatorships. There must come a time when the Arab and Muslim people are free from these regimes that have no respect for the rule of law and have no dignity and no room for the people’s participation in the political process.

Press TV: Mr. Shahabi there is also now the issue of the announcement of severance of ties between Saudi Arabia and Tehran. Some of Saudi Arabia’s allies also followed that announcement. Some observers of the situation are describing the move by Saudi Arabia too hasty and Iranian government spokesman has also stated that “the severing of diplomatic relations with Tehran will definitely be to the disadvantage of Saudi Arabia". What do you think about the issue?

Shahabi: Unfortunately in our Arab and Muslim world today, we do not have wise men ruling our countries; we have people who are reactionary who just react spontaneously on the incident of the time without really engaging themselves into intellectual or ideological discourse. They just take a decision because they feel that their dignity may have been compromised and the only proper action in their opinion is to react in this hasty manner. So what? Saudi Arabia is severing relations with Iran, so what? What is Iran going to lose from that process? The relations have been already strained because of the killing of more than 400 Iranians in what they call stampede. Still, that stampede incident that happened in the Hajj that killed more than 2,500 people. Why it happened, how it happened, who is going to investigate, [and] what are the results of those investigations are not known. We should not forget that within few minutes, within few hours more than 450 Iranians were killed, more than 2,500 people were killed all Muslims. Now, the severing of relations has come at the backdrop of all these incidents. We also must not forget that the Saudis want to revenge on Iran because of what Iran represents in the Arab and Muslim world. It is the representation of honor and manifestation of what is called the political stamp. This political stamp, the Saudis are fearful of this. This why they had their go against Ikhwan al-Muslimeen, against the Muslim Brotherhood and the coup in Egypt against it was incited and financed by the Saudis.

So we have a regime that fears its own people. By killing 47 people in one go, they are sending strong message to their own people that look we cannot anybody criticizing us, anyone who is going to say a word against the ruling family will find that his end is by execution, by crucifixion, by beheading. Now these are ways of the reactionary regime that has no legitimacy. Where is the legitimacy of the Saudi tribe? Why is it ruling a country? Who has elected them? Who has appointed them to rule them? When the people have no say in how their affairs are run, then you are running a country that belongs to the past not to present nor to the future.  

Press TV: Mr. Shahabi you focused on the issue of mass executions. Following the announcement by the Saudis on Saturday, there was a wave of criticism as to the manner of what the Saudis carried out but the question is some Western countries are considered themselves to be flag-bearers of democracy which happen to be close allies of the Saudis, namely being the United States and Britain. Their response has been criticized and even the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) by some accounts failed short of giving the proper condemnations to the mass execution that took place in Saudi Arabia.

Shahabi: Well, I have seen some concerns expressed by some countries. The Americans say we told the Saudis before they executed Sheikh Nimr of the possible consequences and fallout of that crime. There is a lot of pressure on the British prime minister to sever relations with Saudis because this is just an open execution of people of who maybe guilty or who maybe innocent, but differently some of them are differently innocent. I saw what Amnesty International said that this is settling of accounts; I saw the Green Party MP in the British Parliament who has called on Mr. Cameron to sever their relations, their links with the Saudis.

Unfortunately, the Saudis are still enjoying the tacit support or at least the tacit if not the exposed and open support of those countries.

So unless the West changes its attitude to tyranny, to dictatorships, to clan rule, to tribal rule; unless it upholds the values of human rights and democracy, which are the main slogans of the West, if they do not do that, then we will see more terrorism, more extremism that are funded by the petrodollars especially from Saudis. They have to do something about it, otherwise; the West is not going to be safe because of the mushrooming terrorism due to support and limited support by those regimes.  

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