Saudi rulers after demographic change of Awamiyah: Analyst

The tragic events taking place in the Saudi Arabia’s Shia-dominated Eastern Province are rooted in political reasons as the Saudi regime has set about implementing demographic changes to the most oil-rich region in the kingdom, a London-based expert says.

The unprecedented destruction of al-Awamiyah with the all-out war on the people of that town and persecution of other Shia-populated areas inside the kingdom lie with the regime’s plan “to change the historic reality of the region for its religious background identity,” Saeed Shahabi told Press TV on Thursday.

The analyst said Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest oil producer has its oil largely in the Eastern Province.

This province is “a very old place looking like the old townships of South Africa not the Saudi oil rich country of the 21st century so the people have been denied the right to their own while the money is given to President Trump, $500 million,” he said.

US lawmakers formerly introduced legislation seeking to block about $500 million of the $110 billion arms deal of US President Donald Trump's massive sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia, given the regime's past support of terror, poor human rights record and questionable tactics in numerous campaigns of aggression inside and outside the kingdom.

Shahabi further touched on the tragic escalation of the crackdown on the people of the Eastern Province, a situation in need of the strong reaction from the world, where not enough attention has been given to.

For the past three months since the attack on the region, the rights groups' attention in proportion to the cries for help from the inhabitants has been marginal, given the fact that 14 people were condemned to death by the Saudi court following an unfair trial over protest-related charges, he added.

He further said there is almost no attention from the main stream media in the West, as they follow the line of their foreign ministies not wanting to antagonize the Saudi regime, leading up to a lack of attention and discrepancy and hypocrisy in the media coverage.

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