The Qatif conflict is a modern phase of sectarian tensions and violence in Eastern Arabia between

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

Shia Muslims Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mos ...

and Arab Sunni majority, which has ruled Saudi Arabia since early 20th century. The conflict encompasses civil unrest which has been sporadically happened since the 1979 uprising, pro-democracy and pro-human rights

protests A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...

and occasional armed incidents, which increased in 2017 as part of the 2017–20 Qatif unrest.

Background

Since Al-Hasa and Qatif were conquered and annexed into the

Emirate of Riyadh The Emirate of Riyadh Madawi Al-Rasheed. ''A History of Saudi Arabia''. Cambridge, England, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Pp. 40. was the first iteration of the Third Saudi State from 1902 to 1913. J. A. Hammerton. ''Peoples Of All Natio ...

in 1913 by Ibn Saud, Shiites in the region had experienced state of oppression. Unlike most of Saudi Arabia, Qatif has a Shiite majority, and the region is also being of key importance to the Saudi government due to its closeness to the bulk of Saudi oil reserves as well as the main Saudi refinery and export terminal of

Ras Tanura Ras Tanura ( ar, رأس تنورة, Ra's Tannūrah, lit=cape oven, cape brazier, presumably due to the unusual heat prevalent at the cape that projects into the sea) is a city in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia located on a peninsula extend ...

, which is situated close to Qatif.

History

1979 uprising

The 1979 Qatif Uprising was a period of unprecedented civil unrest that occurred in

Qatif Qatif or Al-Qatif ( ar, ٱلْقَطِيف ''Al-Qaṭīf'') is a governorate and urban area located in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. It extends from Ras Tanura and Jubail in the north to Dammam in the south, and from the Persian Gulf in the ...

and Al-Hasa,

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

, in late November 1979. The unrest resulted in 20-24 people killed in what was described as a sectarian outburst of violence between the Shi'a minority and Sunni majority in Saudi Arabia and the beginning of the modern phase of the Qatif conflict.

1979–83 crackdown

After the 1979 uprising, the Saudi authorities have engaged in systematic persecution of Shi'a activists in Qatif, with an estimated 182-219 killed by 1983 (including the 1979 events).

Arab Spring protests 2011–12

The protests in

were part of the

Arab Spring The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in Tunisia in response to corruption and econo ...

that started with the 2011 Tunisian revolution. Protests started with a

self-immolation The term self-immolation broadly refers to acts of altruistic suicide, otherwise the giving up of one's body in an act of sacrifice. However, it most often refers specifically to autocremation, the act of sacrificing oneself by setting oneself ...

Samtah Samtah (also Romanized as Şāmitah or Samta; in Arabic صامطة) is a town and sub-division in Jizan Province, in southwestern Saudi Arabia.National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. GeoNames database entry.search Accessed 13 May 2011. In March ...

and Jeddah street protests in late January 2011. Protests against anti-Shia discrimination followed in February and early March in

Hofuf Al-Hofuf ( ar, ٱلْهُفُوف ', also spelled Hofuf or Hufuf, also known as "Al-Hasa", "Al-Ahsa" or "Al-Hassa") is the major urban city in the Al-Ahsa Oasis in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, with a population of 858,395 (as of 202 ...

al-Awamiyah Al-Awamiyah, also spelled Awamia, ( ar, العوامية ') is a town situated in the Al-Qatif region in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. , it has a population of about 25,500 people. Al-Awamiyah is bordered by the Al-Ramis farms to the e ...

, and

Riyadh Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of th ...

. A Facebook organiser of a planned 11 March "Day of Rage", Faisal Ahmed Abdul-Ahad, was allegedly killed by Saudi security forces on 2 March, with several hundred people protesting in Qatif, Hofuf and al-Amawiyah on the day itself.

Khaled al-Johani Khaled al-Johani (also ''al-Jehani'', Arabic: خالد الجهني, born 23rd August1971 {{51) is a teacher of religious instruction in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He was imprisoned, without charges or trial for nearly one year, at ʽUlaysha Prison for ...

demonstrated alone in Riyadh, was interviewed by

BBC Arabic Television BBC News Arabic ( ar, بي بي سي نيوز عربي), formerly BBC Arabic Television, is a television news channel broadcast to the Arab World by the BBC. It was launched on 11 March 2008. It is run by the BBC World Service and funded from th ...

, was detained in

ʽUlaysha Prison ʽUlaysha Prison (also ''ʽUlaisha'', ''Alisha'', ''Olisha'', ) is a prison in Riyadh run by the Saudi Arabian secret police agency Mabahith for arbitrary detention. During the 2011 Saudi Arabian protests, "the only brave man in Saudi Arabia", K ...

, and became known online as "the only brave man in Saudi Arabia". Many protests over human rights took place in April 2011 in front of government ministry buildings in

Ta'if Taif ( ar, , translit=aṭ-Ṭāʾif, lit=The circulated or encircled, ) is a city and governorate in the Makkan Region of Saudi Arabia. Located at an elevation of in the slopes of the Hijaz Mountains, which themselves are part of the Sarat M ...

and

Tabuk Tabuk may refer to: *Tabuk, Kalinga, the capital city of Kalinga province of the Philippines *Tabuk Province, a province of Saudi Arabia **Tabuk, Saudi Arabia Tabuk ( ar, تَبُوْك '), also spelled ''Tabouk'', is the capital city of the Tab ...

and in January 2012 in Riyadh. In 2011,

Nimr al-Nimr Ayatollah Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr ( ar, نمر باقر النمر, Nimr Bāqir an-Nimr, Bakir al-Nimr, al-Nemr, al-Namr, al-Nimer, al-Nemer, al-Namer; 21 June 1959 – 2 January 2016), commonly referred to as Sheikh Nimr, was a Shia sheikh in ...

encouraged his supporters in nonviolent resistance.

Execution controversy of Nimr al-Nimr

On 15 October 2014, al-Nimr was sentenced to death by the

Specialized Criminal Court The Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) ( ar, المحكمة الجزائية المتخصصة) is a non- Sharia court created in Saudi Arabia in 2008 that tries suspected terrorists and human rights activists. On 26 June 2011, the court started tr ...

for "seeking 'foreign meddling' in audi Arabia 'disobeying' its rulers and taking up arms against the security forces". Said Boumedouha of Amnesty International stated that the death sentence was "part of a campaign by the authorities in Saudi Arabia to crush all dissent, including those defending the rights of the Kingdom's Shi'a Muslim community." Nimr al-Nimr's brother, Mohammad al-Nimr,

tweeted Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

information about the death sentence and was arrested on the same day. The head of Iran's armed forces warned Saudi Arabia that it would "pay dearly" if it carried out the execution. In March 2015 the Saudi Arabian appellate court upheld the death sentence against al-Nimr. On 25 October 2015, the Supreme Religious Court of Saudi Arabia rejected al-Nimr's appeal against his death sentence. During an interview for

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

, al-Nimr's brother claimed that the decision was a result of a hearing which occurred without the presence or notification of al-Nimr's lawyers and family. This being said, he still remained hopeful that

King Salman Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ( ar, سلمان بن عبد العزیز آل سعود, , ; born 31 December 1935) is King of Saudi Arabia, reigning since 2015, and served as Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 2015 to 2022. The 25th son of Kin ...

would grant a pardon. However, on January 2, 2016, al-Nimr was executed.

Unrest (2017–2020)

The 2017–20 Qatif unrest occurred in the Qatif region (within Eastern Province of

) between the Saudi government and the Shia militants until it died down in 2020. It began in May 2017 after an incident on 12 May when a child and a Pakistani young man were shot and killed. In the same month, Saudi authorities erected siege barricades in Awamiyah and attempted to bulldoze the al-Musawara residential area. The conflict became an armed conflict, with about 12–25 people killed in shelling and sniper fire during May and the following few months. On 11 May 2019, 8 militants were killed in a firefight with Saudi security forces in the Sanabis neighborhood of Qatif.

Human rights

References

{{Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict Controversies in Saudi Arabia Conflicts in 1979 Islam-related controversies Iran–Saudi Arabia relations Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict Protests in Saudi Arabia Religion-based wars Saudi Arabian democracy movements Shia Islam in Saudi Arabia Shia–Sunni sectarian violence Violence against Shia Muslims Violence against Shia Muslims in Saudi Arabia Qatif 1970s conflicts 1980s conflicts 1990s conflicts 2000s conflicts 2010s conflicts 2020s conflicts 1979 in Saudi Arabia 1970s in Saudi Arabia 1980s in Saudi Arabia 1990s in Saudi Arabia 2000s in Saudi Arabia 2010s in Saudi Arabia 2020s in Saudi Arabia