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The Case of Saudi Arabia

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The Case of Saudi Arabia About the Author: NORMAN CIGAR retired as Director of Regional Studies and the Minerva Research Chair from the U.S. Marine Corps University, where he previously also taught military theory, operational case studies, insurgency warfare, strategy and policy, and Middle East regional studies at the School of Advanced Warfighting and at the Command and Staff College. In an earlier assignment, he was the senior civilian political- military staff officer in the Pentagon responsible for the Middle East in the Office of the Army’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, and supported the Secretary of the Army, the Chief of Staff of the Army, and Congress with intelligence. He also represented the Army on national-level intelligence issues in the interagency intelligence community. In another assignment, he was Director of the Army’s Psychological Operations Strategic Studies Detachment responsible for the Middle East and Africa at Fort Bragg. He has been a consultant on multiple occasions at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at the Hague and was a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Conflict Analysis & Resolution, George Mason University. He has written widely on issues in the Middle East and the Balkans. Dr. Cigar holds a DPhil from Oxford (St Antony’s College) in Middle East History and Arabic; an M.I.A. from the School of International and Public Affairs and a Certificate from the Middle East Institute, Columbia University; and an M.S. in Strategic Intelligence from the Defense Intelligence College. He has studied and traveled widely in the Middle East. About the Series: The NCHR Occasional Paper Series is an open publication channel reflecting the work carried out by the Centre as a whole on a range of human rights topics. It is published on an irregular basis, with contributions from NCHR’s researchers, guests, master students, and the various international programmes and thematic working groups. The objective of the Series is to provide an insight into the work carried out at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, and disseminate it both internally and externally. It provides a way for NCHR’s staff and students to publish relevant information in a freely accessible format. Its scope includes activity reports, thematic reports, conference/seminar papers, master theses, reflective essays or reports on completed projects. The papers are published by submission or invitation. The papers are published in the name of the author, and their views do not necessarily reflect those of the NCHR. The content of this publication can be cited as long as the author and source are specifically cited. Series Editor: Stener Ekern ISSN 2464-3297 2 1: INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................................. 5 2: THE TERMS OF REFERENCE AND METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................. 6 2.1 ANALYTICAL APPROACHES AND ASSUMPTIONS ............................................................................................................... 6 2.2 TERRORISM AND THE EARLY YEARS IN SAUDI ARABIA ...................................................................................................... 8 2.3 THE 9/11 TERRORIST WATERSHED AND BEYOND ........................................................................................................... 9 2.4 FOCUS AND SOURCES .............................................................................................................................................. 10 3: BUILDING A DUAL-USE COUNTERTERRORISM ARCHITECTURE ......................................................................... 10 3.1 DEFINING TERRORISM ............................................................................................................................................. 11 3.2 ENACTING COUNTERTERRORISM LEGISLATION ............................................................................................................. 11 3.2.1 The Convention on Terrorist Crimes and Financing ................................................................................... 12 3.2.2 Cyber Crime Legislation ............................................................................................................................. 13 3.3 DEVELOPING COUNTERTERRORISM MECHANISMS ........................................................................................................ 14 3.3.1 The Specialized Criminal Court for Terrorism ............................................................................................ 14 3.3.2 The Sakina ................................................................................................................................................. 14 3.3.3 The Munasaha........................................................................................................................................... 15 3.3.4 Ieological Security Programs ..................................................................................................................... 16 3.3.5 The Social Media Black List ....................................................................................................................... 16 3.3.6 Markaz Itidal ............................................................................................................................................. 17 4: THE FUNCTIONING OF THE COUNTERTERRORIST SYSTEM ................................................................................ 18 4.1 (MIS)APPLYING THE LEGAL SYSTEM ........................................................................................................................... 18 4.2 AN INADEQUATE DOMESTIC BALANCING MACHINERY ................................................................................................... 19 5: COUNTERTERRORISM AND ITS IMPACT ON THE DOMESTIC POLITY ................................................................. 20 5.1 SAUDI ARABIA’S SHIA COMMUNITY ........................................................................................................................... 20 5.2 ISLAMISTS, REFORMISTS, HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCATES, AND OTHER DISSIDENTS REAL OR IMAGINED ..................................... 23 5.2.1 Islamist Political Parties, Movements, and Ideas ...................................................................................... 25 5.2.2 Controlling Religious Nonconformists ....................................................................................................... 29 5.2.3 Other Political and Human Rights Activists ............................................................................................... 29 5.3 EXCEPTIONS THAT PROVE THE RULE .......................................................................................................................... 34 6: INTERACTING WITH THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY: COUNTERTERRORISM, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND REALPOLITIK ........................................................................................................................................................ 34 6.1 SHIELDING SAUDI POLICY FROM SCRUTINY .................................................................................................................. 35 6.2 TOUTING INTERNATIONAL APPROVAL ......................................................................................................................... 37 6.3 THE KEY ROLE OF THE WEST .................................................................................................................................... 38 6.3.1 The United States: A Qualitative Policy Change? ...................................................................................... 38 6.3.2 Other Western Countries: Struggling towatd a Coherent Policy? ............................................................. 41 6.3.3 The 2018 Saudi Confrontation with Canada: Premeditated Overreaction? .............................................. 42 7: THE JAMAL KHASHOGGI MURDER-- A WATERSHED OR BUSINESS AS USUAL? ................................................ 46 7.1 MANAGING THE KHASHOGGI INCIDENT FALLOUT .......................................................................................................... 47 7.1.1 Dealing with Domestic Audiences— Denials, Defiance, and Threatening Dissidents ............................... 47 7.1.2 Dealing with Foreign Audiences-- Damage Control, Righteous Indignation, and Alibis ............................ 50 7.2 THE UNITED STATES: RIYADH’S VITAL AUDIENCE .......................................................................................................... 51 3 7.3 THE IMPACT ON SAUDI ARABIA: CATALYST FOR POLICY REFORM OR MORE OF THE SAME? ................................................... 53 8: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS .................................................................................................................. 54 4 1: INTRODUCTION In recent days, the focus on human rights with respect to Saudi Arabia, understandably, has centered on the disappearance and brutal murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. In many ways, to be sure, the Khashoggi case speaks to the whole human rights issue in Saudi Arabia and has represented a poignant “teaching moment.” While the Khashoggi case deserves an extensive and detailed study of its own, given its importance and its repercussions, there are also additional aspects
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