Quentin de Pimodan
(Co-author of The Khaleeji Voice, six-part book series about each of the GCC nations and their respective urban art cultures)
Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 22 September 2018
Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Research Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS).
While some conservative Saudi clerics face severe punishments for present or past activities, others seem to slip through the net. If lack of consistency between the narrative emerging from Riyadh and the actual on-ground repercussions have already occurred in the past , the issue of the fight against radical Islamism is a key one for the regime, for both asserting credibility and legitimacy. On several occasions Crown Prince Mohammed repeated that combatting extremism was one of his top domestic and international priority in places such as Syria, Iraq and Yemen together with, according to him, opposing Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei “to conquer the world”. In that regard, the Saudi regime’s recent crackdown on conservative clerics and the double standards it applies in doing so, weaken the gravity of the charges held against some of the clerics and the very scholars that are currently being targeted. Which could result in serious backlashes... Read more