Saudi town sows seeds of revolution

SAKAKA, Saudi Arabia — An extraordinary level of political violence in the tiny city of Sakaka, the capital of a remote province bordering Iraq, has the makings of the beginning of a popular revolution against the ruling al-Saud family.

Residents of al-Jouf province say recent months have seen the assassination of the deputy governor and the execution-style killing of Sakaka’s police chief by a group of men who forced their way into his home.

Earlier, the region’s top Shariah, or religious law, court judge was shot at point-blank range as he drove to work.

Seven men have been arrested for involvement in the shootings, according to Saudi officials, who say the attacks are linked and that the suspects may have had as many as 40 accomplices.

Elsewhere in Saudi Arabia, such violence could be put down to tribal feuds, or general lawlessness in a region far from the capital, Riyadh. And al-Jouf is subject to the same social problems — including poverty, alienation and drug abuse — that are causing concern across this once crime-free nation.

But residents say the violence here is political, rooted in the province’s historic role as the power base of the al-Sudairy branch of the Saudi royal family — which includes King Fahd and his six full brothers.

Known as the Sudairy Seven, they include Defense Minister Prince Sultan and Riyadh Gov. Prince Salman.

The seven make all the important economic and political decisions in Saudi Arabia, with King Fahd’s favorite son, Abdul Aziz, increasingly standing in for his father.

In al-Jouf province, the clan has dominated business and local government since the kingdom was founded; for more than 40 of those years, the governor has been a family member.

But now there are signs of a rebellion by merchant families and tribes who were prominent before al-Jouf was incorporated into the Saudi kingdom and the al-Sudairys took over.

These days, the five streets that constitute Sakaka are deserted after dusk and members of the al-Sudairy clan are unwilling to leave their walled villas without an armed guard.

Secret police closely observe outsiders who manage to get through the permanent roadblocks on the roads into the city, manned by special security police in body armor and wielding automatic weapons.

If the visitor is a Westerner, his car is tailed day and night, as much for his own protection as out of inveterate Saudi suspicion.

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