Saudi regime’s power in decline: Analyst

The grip of Al Saud on power is in decline in Saudi Arabia as the popular protests are making headway in defiance of the regime’s iron-fist policy and media blackout, a political analyst tells Press TV.

“The protest is increasing. These protests are larger than previous protests and that shows that there is a decline of the grip of the Saudi regime on the country, on the people,” said Ali Al Ahmed, director of the Institute for [Persian] Gulf Affairs (I[P]GA) in a Wednesday interview.

The analyst pointed out that the escalating protests in eastern parts of Saudi Arabia, including in Awamiyah and Qatif are now spreading across the kingdom.

He slammed the media blackout over the popular uprising in Saudi Arabia, saying, “There has not been a single Western media outlet that has attempted to cover the events there.”

Ahmed criticized the US double standards with regard to the popular protests and revolutions in different Arab countries and argued that Washington’s paradoxical stances “show the true face of the American policy that people do not matter.”

The analyst predicted that the anti-government protests in Saudi Arabia “will continue unabated for the next few years … until maybe we see the end of the regime itself.”

Tensions are escalating in Saudi Arabia as people hold a funeral ceremony for a man killed during a protest against the arrest of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nemr al-Nemr.

New pictures which surfaced on Wednesday showed people in the city of Awamiyah, in the restive Eastern Province, holding a funeral for Akbar Hassan Shakhouri.

On July 8, Saudi security forces in Qatif opened fire on demonstrators, who were protesting against the detention of al-Nemr. Saudi forces shot and killed Shakhouri and two others during the protest. Many others were injured in the attack.