Saudi Shi'ites mark Ashura with new confidence

QATIF, Saudi Arabia, Jan 30 (Reuters) Regional conflicts have emboldened Saudi Arabia's minority Shi'ites, and many openly identified with brethren across the Wasia today when they marked the Ashura day of mourning.

Hundreds of people in black joined street processions to mark the slaying in 680 of Prophet Mohammad's grandson, Imam Hussein. They marched under large pictures of semi-divine hero figures, including Imam Hussein and his father Imam Ali, as well as posters of Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim leader Hassan Nasrallah.

''The fight against tyranny has come again,'' said a teenager who gave his name as Hussein as he marched in the Gulf coast town of Tarut. ''With the political situation now and the corruption, we are making war on all oppressors.'' He used the Arabic word ''zulm'', a key concept for Shi'ites which encompasses tyranny, oppression and injustice. Saudi Shi'ites have been pushing the limits of freedom allowed them with Ashura displays that only five years ago were banned.

Many said they identified with the struggles of their co-religionists in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon, and did not fear an escalation in anti-Shi'ite rhetoric from Sunni Muslim clerics.

Police still place limits on the extent of the displays, and security checks were in place in case of militant attacks.

Shi'ites have often drawn inspiration from Ashura, which has evolved into an elaborate tradition of passion and suffering centred on the messianic figure of Hussein.

''The master martyr sacrificed himself for the sake of Islam,'' slogans lining the streets said. ''Hussein is the sun that will never set.'' Majority Shi'ites in Iraq, who came to power after US-led forces invaded Iraq in 2003, are engaged in a bloody sectarian struggle against Sunnis, threatening a civil war.

Nasrallah's group Hezbollah is leading a popular effort to bring down Lebanon's Sunni and Western-backed government.

And Iran is locked in a confrontation with the United States over its backing for Shi'ites in Iraq and Lebanon as well as its nuclear energy programme, which many fear could lead to war.

NEW SHI'ITE REALITY ''Shi'ism has started to impose a (new) reality in the Sunni world and to bring results,'' said Sheikh Hassan Nimr, a prominent Shi'ite cleric in Saudi Arabia who has been detained in recent months for his outspoken views.

''It would be stupidity to get into a confrontation (with Iran) as it is not in the American interest ... Iran is a Shi'ite state and Iran and Iraq are our Shi'ite strength.'' Shi'ites in the Eastern Province, where most of Saudi Arabia's huge oil fields are located, rose against the Saudi authorities after Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979, inspired by the revolutionary message to fight oppression.

Facing official suspicion ever since, Shi'ites here have adopted a low profile in the hope that more rights would follow in a country where hardline Sunnis view them as heretics.

But a new spirit of activism is in the air.

Some Shi'ites were arrested for marching in support of Hezbollah during its war with Israel last year.

Local politician Jaafar al-Shaib said Shi'ites were more mature than to risk their gains through clashes with the state.

But he added: ''In the 1970s, the situation here was relaxed with an abundance of oil wealth. Then the Iranian revolution came and people exploded, so you never know.'' REUTERS SSC KP1845 7