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Millennia Atlantic University to Host Official ?Groundbreaking? Ceremony

Millennia Atlantic University to Host Official “Groundbreaking” Ceremony

Front exterior view of MAU’s new facility

Doral, FL (PRWEB) November 17, 2011

Millennia Atlantic University (MAU), founded in 2005, has called a modest 8,000 sq. ft. ground-floor space situated in a strip mall home since 2007. The university is now prepared to relocate to an 11,000 sq. ft. facility and occupy three of the four floors at 3801 NW 97th Avenue in Doral.

On Monday, November 21st between 12:00pm and 2:00pm, MAU will host current and future students, faculty members, business leaders, the media, and city officials at an official groundbreaking event. Although the building is constructed, the interior renovations for the university began in late October. The event will signify the ceremonial driving of the “first nails” into the walls of the new facility to proudly display an MAU banner. Guests will be treated to a light lunch, and tours of the facility will be given by university president, Aristides Maza-Duerto, Ph.D. and Brett Moss, the architect and general contractor.

“This is an exciting time for Millennia,” said Aristides Maza-Duerto, president of MAU, “The University has outgrown its current facility, and the new building will allow us to better serve our students and faculty by tripling our available classroom space,” he continued.

The architect for the project, Moss Architecture + Design Group, is aiming for the commercial interior to be LEED certified “green energy efficient” by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBG).

During 2010, MAU was granted accreditation by the Accrediting Council for Independent Schools and Colleges (ACICS) to award associate’s, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees. Earlier this year the university was authorized by the Federal government to offer financial aid Title IV funding to those who qualify. The university will formally occupy the new space in Spring 2012.

NOTE: High-resolution images available upon request.

About Millennia Atlantic University

Founded in 2005 and based in Doral, FL, a western suburb of Miami, Millennia Atlantic University (MAU) is accredited by the ACICS to grant associate’s, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees. MAU currently offers business-related programs in management, human resources, paralegal, and healthcare administration. Financial aid is available for those who qualify, and classes taught in Spanish are available for first year students. For more information about the University and new academic programs, please visit http://www.maufl.edu, or follow MAU on Twitter @MAU_FL.

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Sunday, January 29th, 2012 Government Grant For Home Renovations No Comments

First Official Recognition by Japanese Government for Private Foreign University Branch Campus Operating in Japan

Tokyo, Japan (PRWEB) December 17, 2005

On December 15, 2005 Lakeland College became the first private institution of higher education to receive official Japanese government recognition for its branch campus undergraduate program in Japan.

By granting the designation “Foreign University, Japan Campus” to Lakeland College Japan (LCJ), the government of Japan has indicated its recognition of U.S. colleges and universities that receive their degree-granting status from private accreditation boards, rather than national or state-level government agencies. Lakeland College, based in Wisconsin, USA, is an independent, private, liberal arts college accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

The new status, granted by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT), promises “significant benefits” for LCJ students, according to LCJ Assistant Dean Andrew Conning. “The most immediate benefit is that our students will be able to apply for the student discount on commuting passes issued by train or bus companies. And in the future, if they decide to attend a Japanese university, they will be able to apply to transfer the academic credits they have earned at LCJ.”

LCJ will also be able to apply with the Ministry of Justice to sponsor student visas for applicants from outside Japan. “Japan is an attractive location for international students looking to earn an undergraduate education, and we plan to take advantage of this opportunity to bring more students here,” Conning added.

These and other potential benefits will help LCJ and other foreign universities in Japan to operate on an equal basis with Japanese universities, and therefore to continue to expand the educational alternatives offered to Japanese university students. In response to the Ministry’s announcement that LCJ had been granted Foreign University, Japan Campus, status, U.S. Ambassador J. Thomas Schieffer commented: “This recognition speaks highly of Lakeland College Japan as an institution of higher education. The Ministry’s decision demonstrates the Japanese government’s recognition of the quality of U.S. higher education and the benefits it offers to Japanese students.”

Conning added that “LCJ offers an innovative, English-based program that gives Japanese students a broad-minded, international outlook and the ability to think independently. This recognition from the government of Japan will support LCJ students as they seek the international training and experience required for full participation in the global economy. By granting us official recognition, the government has invited LCJ to continue training the kind of citizens that will serve the needs of domestic and foreign companies and help Japan remain competitive.”

To qualify for the government’s recognition as a Foreign University, Japan Campus, LCJ had to satisfy a variety of criteria. For example, it had to demonstrate that it was an officially accredited branch of a US college, and that the standards and quality of the LCJ faculty and programs were fully compatible with those of the main campus in the United States. LCJ submitted documents to satisfy these and other criteria to the Embassy of the United States, which transmitted LCJ’s application to MEXT.

While LCJ’s official recognition as a Foreign University, Japan Campus is a significant step toward operating on equal status with Japanese universities, LCJ hopes that the various agencies of the Japanese government will follow MEXT’s lead in recognizing the important contribution foreign universities can make to Japanese society and to the nation’s future economic strength. The government’s unified support will be essential in making Japan an attractive location for university study for both Japanese and foreign students.

Lakeland College was founded in 1862. The LCJ campus has offered a US-accredited two-year Associate of Arts degree since 1991. Most LCJ graduates complete a four-year Bachelor of Arts degree program through continued study at the main campus in Wisconsin, USA or at other universities. Until 2003, Lakeland College was the coordinating institution of the Association of American Colleges and Universities in Japan.

For inquiries on this press release, please contact Masanori Nakayama, LCJ (Tel. +813-5285-5571).

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Friday, February 25th, 2011 Government Grants For College Students No Comments

Deputy education official to join nonprofit

Deputy education official to join nonprofit
Jeff Nellhaus, deputy education commissioner, is leaving to join Achieve Inc., a national education nonprofit overseen by business officials and governors, including Governor Deval Patrick. Nellhaus will direct the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Career assessment consortium, according to Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester, who announced Nellhaus’s departure in …
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The funding stability in Dayton’s education plan draws applause | Learning Curve
MinnPost/Terry Gydesen Gov. Mark Dayton During his campaign, Mark Dayton visited countless schools and broke bread with pretty much every public-education advocate in Minnesota. On Tuesday, when he released his proposed 2012-2013 budget, the governor proved he was taking notes during those meetings. The governor proposed spending $ 33 million on all-day kindergarten, $ 5.1 million on competitive …
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Obama seeks Pell Grant changes
President Barack Obama’s budget proposal that would cut $ 100 billion from Pell Grants and other higher education programs has some local university administrators concerned about how students will pay for their tuition.
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Wednesday, February 16th, 2011 Grants In Education No Comments

The Oromo Genocide Solemnly Confessed by Official Russian Explorer in Abyssinia (Fake Ethiopia)

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Alexander Bulatovich, the 19th – early 20th century Russian noble, explorer, military officer, and monk, is still conveniently unknown even to Russians, let alone Europeans, Chinese, Japanese, Indians, Latin Americans and Africans. I don’t expect anyone in the US to have heard of Bulatovich, except the person is a historian and political scientist locked in a remote research center, safely enough for the gangsters of Wall Street, and the masquerades of the Senate and the Congress.

The incestuous, cruel and disreputable Amhara and Tigray gangsters are covered with cold sweat whenever they hear the name of the Russian Orthodox explorer. They know of his report about Abyssinia, and they are well aware that their momentarily successful but genuinely evil propaganda will collapse, once focus is shifted on Bulatovich’s books.

Alexander Bulatovich was for almost three years (1897 – 1899) in a mission in Abyssinia, thus becoming an extraordinary eye-witness of the Oromo genocide and of the Abyssinian expansion outside the borders of their tiny and barbarous kingdom.

One must redraw in his mind Africa at the times of the criminal colonial onslaught that, under the coverage of an immoral, highly criminal, genuinely fake and otherwise useless Christianization, ended up with the destruction of socio-cultural structures maintained for thousands of years, i.e. an immense cultural genocide of disproportionate size, and a still unprecedented physical genocide – that of the Oromo nation.

Tsarist Russia was left very behind the other colonial powers in Africa. Of course, the Central and Western European colonial countries considered Siberia, Caucasus and Central Asia as Russia’s colonies, and they were right in this; however, although late, Russia attempted to extend influence in the Horn of Africa whereby France, England and Italy were in harsh competition to expand their spheres of influence.

The lewd and barbarous gangster Sahle Maryam, son of an idiotic soldier Besha Warad and a prostitute named Ijigayehu who divorced her husband less than a year after her son was born ( ! ), had become an Abyssinian king, which means the filthiest litter throughout Africa.

This was precisely the type of ruler the colonial powers wanted to have as a tool. To prevent Italy’s expansion in the Red Sea coast and the Horn of Africa region, France and England selected this trash of king as an ally, and delivered thousands of guns to his soldiers in order to both, avert Italy’s expansion and exterminate their worst enemy in the world, the peaceful and paradisiacal African societies that in and by themselves demonstrated (already at that time) the failure of the Western world, and the inhumanity of the corrupt, hypocritical and devilish Western European societies.

The French were the first to be influential on Sahle Maryam, who became “king” under the ridiculous name of Menelik II, which is an aberration, because Menelik I is a mythical and inexistent person created only by the fallacious author of the Kebra Negast forgery.

Later on, the English increased their impact on this filthy pseudo-king, by bribing him, providing him with more guns, and allowing him to secretly practice slave trade in order to multiply his dirty money.

The Russian envoy arrived little time after the battle of Adwa whereby, helped by the English, and with an army of slaves, the Abyssinians managed to stop the Italian advance for some time.

The Russians believed that they could mark a success because of the widespread delusion that the Abyssinians are Orthodox Christians, just like the Russians.

However, despite the rapprochement achieved by Bulatovich, the religious differences were far greater than just the acceptance of Monophysitism in Abyssinia.

In fact, the Abyssinians are vicious Anti-Christian heretics and their daily life is at the antipodes of the average Christian life, their values (if we suppose that they are values, which is already an aberration) being counterfeit and profane.

Bulatovich understood that the Abyssinians play the “Christian card” in a highly politicized game in order to be allowed to perform crimes after crimes and genocides after genocides, sharing with the Anglo-French Freemasonry – in addition to other vicious feelings and malignant targets – a detrimental hatred of Islam and the Islamic world.

Bulatovich offered Menelik the chance for an extra ally, namely Russia. His military advice proved to be also useful, and thus the Russian explorer joined the Abyssinian military expedition against Kaffa and other southern nations that were then subjugated.

In his books, Bulatovich demonstrates a rather superficial understanding of the African societies and cultures. What becomes instantly clear is that he did not travel there without preconceived ideas; for him, as well as for any Russian and European, a ‘non Christian African’ meant a ‘savage’. He was not even predisposed to diffuse the objective truth; although he knew (and mentioned) that the Oromos call themselves Oromos, in his books he kept calling them Gallas, after the Amhara pejorative term.

It is in fact through his lines that we can get the reality; in some cases, he states the plain truth. Read this simple, 2-line sentence that has the validity of unequivocal judgment, irrevocable conviction and utmost condemnation of the Amhara and Tigray evilness:

“…… The dreadful annihilation of more than half the population during the conquest took away from the Galla all possibility of thinking about any sort of uprising……. “

This sentence belongs in the unit ‘The Original Form of Galla Government’ which is part of Bulatovich’s book ‘From Entotto to the River Baro’. I herewith republish the entire unit, adding also at the end the Wikipedia entry concerning the Russian explorer.

In further articles, I will republish further excerpts from Bulatovich’s groundbreaking contributions that reveal the plain truth about East Africa, the Oromos, many other subjugated nations, and the barbarous, Anti-Christian Amhara and Tigray Habesha (Abyssinians).

Not only Bulatovich’s excerpts must be in the hands of every Oromo, Sidama, Kaffa and other natives, but they must be also translated in many local languages (Afaan Oromo, Sidamuaffo, etc.) to offer Abyssinia’s subjugated nations an early and irrevocable testimony to the troubles they faced and to the genocide to which they have been exposed, and which has been criminally denied by the Freemasonic regimes of London, Paris and Washington for more than a century.

Ethiopia through Russian Eyes
An eye-witness account of the end of an era, 1896-98 consisting of two books by Alexander Bulatovich

From Entotto to the River Baro (1897)

With the Armies of Menelik II (1900)

Translated by Richard Seltzer (seltzer@samizdat.com, www.samizdat.com)

From Entotto to the River Baro

http://www.samizdat.com/entotto.html

An account of a trip to the southwestern regions of the Ethiopian Empire 1896-97 by Lieutenant of His Majesty’s Life-Guard Hussar Regiment Alexander Bulatovich

Originally published in St. Petersburg, 1897, Printed by V. Kirshbaum, 204 pages

Reissued in 1971 as part of the volume With the Armies of Menelik II, edited by I. S. Katsnelson of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R.”Science” Publishing House Chief Editorial Staff of Oriental Literature Moscow 1971, entire book 352 pages, Entotto pp. 32-156

Translated by Richard Seltzer (from the 1971 edition)

The Original Form of Galla Government

The original form of government of the Galla and the beginnings of their legal procedure and of criminal law were entirely changed with the conquest of the area by the Abyssinians.

Originally, they were separated into a mass of separate clans, and each clan was a completely independent unit. A large part of them, namely all the western clans, had a monarchic form of government. But some southern clans had a republican form of government.

The republics of Goma and Gera chose several rulers, whom they drove away quickly whenever they had the slightest cause for dissatisfaction. In all the other clans, the eldest in the clan, descended by the eldest line from the founder of the clan, was the head of state. But his rights were completely fictitious.

He did not have the use of any revenues from his subjects, because he did not have the right to collect taxes. His revenues consisted of rare voluntary gifts, portions of military plunder and revenues from his own properties, cattle, and land. This was because, in the primogeniture system of inheritance he, descended by the eldest line from the founder of the clan, was the richest landowner in his tribe. In case of war, he was at the head of his clan, but he could neither begin nor end war, nor undertake anything at all independently without having consulted with the elders. He presided in the lube, but all the business was decided there without his knowledge.

The lube is a very unique institution. Each head of a family in the state has the right each 40 years to become a member of the lube for five years. If the head of a family turns out to be a young boy, this does not prevent him from taking part. This assembly of the leaders of the families of the state perform all the functions of court and of state government.

The court, whether civil or criminal court, is conducted in the following manner. The plaintiff and the respondent, or the accuser and the accused, each entrust their business to one of the members of the lube. Those entrusted explain the essence of the matter to the council, wrangle with one another; then when the matter has been made sufficiently clear, the lube decides on the verdict. For the duration of the trial, neither the respondent nor the plaintiff have the right interfere. They are not asked about anything. There are two criminal punishments — fine and exile. And, in some western regions there is still sale into slavery.

There is no capital punishment for ordinary criminal acts.

Premeditated murder is punished the most severely. The property of the killer is confiscated for the use of the family of the victim, and he himself is expelled from the borders of the country. But if after some time he arrives at an agreement with the family of the victim on the extent of compensation, then he can return again. Theft is punished by large fines and, in some border regions, by sale into slavery. Adultery is punished by fines, if the deceived husband did not already deal with the insulter in some way.

Since the right of property in land in the majority of regions up to now has been identified with actual possession, law suits on this question could only arise in the thickly populated regions of Leka, Wollaga, and Jimma, where already there exist not only property in land but also servitude.

Aside from the administration of justice, it was likewise the duty of the lube to reconcile quarreling clans.66

Such was the form of government of Galla states up until their conquest by the Abyssinians. But from that time the peaceful, free way of life, which could have become the ideal for philosophers and writers of the eighteenth century, if they hadknown of it, was completely changed. Their peaceful way of life is broken; freedom is lost; and the independent, freedom-loving Gallas find themselves under the severe authority of the Abyssinian conquerors.

The Abyssinians pursue two goals in the governing of the region: fiscal and political — security of the region and prevention of an uprising. All families are assessed a tax.

This is very small, not more than a unit of salt a year per family. In addition, families are attached to the land. Part of the population is obliged to cultivate land for the main ruler of the country, and part is divided among the soldiers and military leaders. The whole region is divided among separate military leaders who live off their district and feed their soldiers.

The dreadful annihilation of more than half the population during the conquest took away from the Galla all possibility of thinking about any sort of uprising. And the freedom-loving Galla who didn’t recognize any authority other than the speed of his horse, the strength of his hand, and the accuracy of his spear, now goes through the hard school of obedience.

The lube no longer exists. The Abyssinians govern through clan leaders aba-koro and aba-langa (the aba-koro’s assistant).

The aba-koro is the head of the clan, who gathers the Gallas for work, gathers coffee for the leader of the region, levies taxes for them, and, when it is necessary, collects durgo. The Abyssinian leaders only supervise the correctness of the actions of the aba-koro. The court of the first instance is the aba-koro, but important matters go straight to the leader of the region who punishes in accord with Abyssinian laws, and, in the case of political crimes, robbery, attempted murder or murder of an Abyssinian, uses capital punishment.

That’s the way things are done in the conquered regions. But aside from these there are three states — Jimma, Leka, Wollaga — which voluntarily submitted to Abyssinia and pay it tribute.

In those places, the former order has been preserved, although the lube no longer exists. The Abyssinians obtain taxes from them and do not interfere in their self-government. Aside from payment of taxes, they also feed the troops stationed there.

After all that has been said above, the question automatically arises — what are the relations of the conquered to the conquerors? Without a doubt, the Galla, with their at least five million population, occupying the best land, all speaking one language, could represent a tremendous force if they united. But the separatist character of the people did not permit such a union. Now subjugated by the Abyssinians, who possess a higher culture, they little by little adopt this culture from the Abyssinians, and accept their faith. Since there is no national idea, in all probability, they will with time blend with the Abyssinians, all the more because the Abyssinians skillfully and tactfully manage them, not violating their customers and religious beliefs and treating them lawfully and justly.

Only those states that pay tribute and preserve their independence represent a danger. Among these, hate for the Abyssinians is apparent in the ruling class, although they have adopted all the customs and even the household etiquette of the Abyssinians. In case of internal disorders, these states will certainly try to use such opportunity to their advantage. But Emperor Menelik doesn’t disturb these states for the time being, in view of the fact that they are the most profitable regions of his empire.

Alexander Bulatovich

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Bulatovich

Alexander Ksaverievich Bulatovich (Russian: Алекса́ндр Ксаве́рьевич Булато́вич; 26 September 1870 – 5 December 1919) tonsured Father Antony (отец Антоний) was a Russian military officer, explorer of Africa, writer, hieromonk and the leader of imiaslavie movement in Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

Alexander was born to a family of Oryol nobility. He studied in Alexandrovsky Lyceum, then served in the Hussar Leib Guard regiment.

In 1897 he was a member of the Russian mission of the Red Cross in Ethiopia, where he became a confidant of Negus Menelek II of Ethiopia. In 1897 – 1899 he became a military aide of Menelek II in his war with Italy and the southern tribes. Bulatovich joined the expedition of Ras Wolde Giyorgis and became the first European to provide a scientific description of the Kaffa province (conquered by Menelek II with Bulatovich’s help). He was the first European to reach the mouth of the Omo River. Among the places named by Bulatovich is the Nicholas II Mountain range. He had to ask permission from the Emperor himself to name the range in his honour.

After Bulatovich returned to Russia he received a Silver Medal from the Russian Geographical Society for his work in Ethiopia and the military rank of a poruchik (later rotmistr) of the Leib Guard Hussars. He served in Saint Petersburg. In 1903 after his talks with Saint John of Kronstadt he resigned from the Army and became a monk (later hiero-schema-monk) of the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos in Greece. He also visited Ethiopia again trying to establish a Russian Orthodox Monastery there. He was tonsured as Father Antony and became known as Hieromonk Antony Bulatovich.

In 1907 after reading the book On Caucasus Mountains by the schema-monk Ilarion, he became one of the leaders of the imiaslavie movement within the Russian Orthodox Church. When the movement was proclaimed a heresy and disbanded by a Russian military force he was one of the leaders of the unsuccessful defence of the St. Panteleimon Monastery in 1913. He was caught and forcefully transferred to Russia on the prison ship Kherson. After the Synod hearings he was defrocked and exiled to his mother’s estate in the village Lebedinka, Kharkov gubernia (now Sumy Oblast, Ukraine).

He continued his fight for the recognition of imiaslavie, published many theological books proving its dogmas, obtained an audience with the Tsar and eventually managed to secure some sort of rehabilitation for himself and his imiaslavtsy comrades. They were allowed to return to their positions in the Church without repentance “since there is nothing to repent about”. On August 28, 1914 Antony Bulatovich received permission to join the Russian Army as an Army priest. During World War I Father Antony not only served as a priest but on “many occasions led soldiers to attack” and was awarded the Cross of St. George.

After returning from the war he took part in the discussion about the imiaslavie. In October 1918 the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church canceled the decision allowing imyaslavtsy to participate in church services. The decision was signed by Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow. In January 1919 Anthony Bulatovich stopped any relations with the Holy Synod and Tikhon and returned to his family estate in Lebedinka, where he started a small skete and lived the life of a hermit. On the night from 5 to 6 December 1919 he was murdered. There are conflicting accounts if the killers were Red Army soldiers or some unaffiliated robbers.

Bulatovich in Russian literature

Antony Bulatovich was most probably the original for the grotesque Schema-Hussar Alexei Bulanovich from the novel The Twelve Chairs by Ilf and Petrov. He is also the hero of Valentin Pikul’s story “The Hussar on a Camel”. In addition he is the hero of the novel “The Name of Hero” by Richard Seltzer (published by Houghton Mifflin in 1981).

Official Saudi Attacks Against Subjugated Shia Yemenites – Revelation of the Wahhabi Evilness

In five earlier articles, entitled ‘Freedom for Tyrannized Najran, Yemenite Territory Under Illegal Saudi Control’, ‘Stop the Saudi Tyranny in Yemenite Najran! Call for a UN-organized Referendum in Najran’, ‘Freedom and Respect for the Rights of the Tyrannized Ismailis of Najran – Saudi Arabia’, ‘A Paradise Turned to Hell: Yemenite Province Najran Annexed by Saudi Arabia’, and ‘Najran Yemenites: Victims of English Colonialism and its Pawns, the Ignorant and Inane Wahhabis’, I stressed the troubles of the tyrannized Yemenites of Najran, who have been forced by the colonial plans of England to be incorporated within the homonymous province of Saudi Arabia.

The Shia Yemenite Najranis have been terribly tyrannized and their persecution and oppression has been carried out by the English colonialism’s best children, the ominous Sunni Wahhabites who are the focus of all sorts of terrorism and evildoing necessary for the eschatological and pseudo-messianic plans of the Apostate Freemasonic Lodge that controls the English and the French political, military and financial establishments.

Recently, the leading NGO Human Rights Watch focused on the issue and published a devastating report that provides with a detailed record of Human Rights violations practiced by the Sunni Wahhabite authorities of Saudi Arabia – the undeservedly and shamelessly venerated ‘allies’ in the War against Terrorism –, which definitely underscores the political need for immediate secession of Najran from Saudi Arabia and reunification with Yemen.

In the aforementioned articles, I published the first four chapters (Summary and Recommendations, the Background, Relevant International Standards, the Clash and Crackdown of April 2000, and the Aftermath) of the comprehensive Report, which is entitled “The Ismailis of Najran – Second-class Saudi Citizens”.

In this article, I republish the Report’s sixth chapter, which focuses on official attacks on Ismaili Ethnic and Religious Identity. In forthcoming articles, I will complete the republication of the entire Report that should be taken into consideration in any case of decision-making with respect to the wider area of the Middle East.

Longer Najran remains annexed in Saudi Arabia, greater the danger of a Shia revolt against Saudi Arabia is. Najran must be given the possibility to select the country they want to belong to by means of a UN-organized and monitored referendum.

The Ismailis of Najran – Second-class Saudi Citizens

http://hrw.org/reports/2008/saudiarabia0908/index.htm

Official Attacks on Ismaili Ethnic and Religious Identity

http://hrw.org/reports/2008/saudiarabia0908/6.htm#_Toc208817530

Following Najran’s incorporation into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a result of a 1934 treaty with Yemen, King Abd al-‘Aziz made an undertaking to the Yam tribe of Najran to respect their religious and ethnic rights.126 However, as the central state became more active in Najran by expanding public schooling, improving infrastructure, and enlarging the state bureaucracy, these promises eroded. Teachers, engineers, and bureaucrats from outside the region came to Najran to administer local affairs, bringing with them Wahhabi-inspired curricula and Sunni-influenced welfare programs, and building Sunni mosques.

The king appoints the governors of Saudi Arabia’s 13 provinces based on nominations from the minister of interior. From the early 1960s until 1996, Najran was governed by members of the Sudairy family.127 In 1996, Prince Mish’al bin Sa’ud bin Abd al-‘Aziz Al Sa’ud was appointed governor.

Ismailis from Najran complain that under Prince Mish’al, their identity as Ismailis came under threat and that they suffered increased discrimination and interference in their affairs. They give examples of officials disparaging the Shia faith, and the Ismaili faith in particular; of increased missionary and discriminatory charitable activity by Sunnis from outside, including in schools; of increased restrictions on Ismaili religious practices; and of a perceived plan to reduce the demographic weight of Ismailis by naturalizing Sunni Yemenis. These factors provide the background for the Holiday Inn hotel events of April 2000.

Ismailis’ most acute concern at present is the naturalization of tens of thousands of Yemenis who have migrated into the Najran area at various times as refugees from southern Yemen, fleeing political persecution under the authoritarian leftist government of the former People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen. These refugees often share the Wahhabi religious thought that prevails in Saudi Arabia and have found jobs as teachers and judges in Najran. Their naturalization affects the demographic composition of the region, where Ismailis presently constitute a large majority.128 Viewed alongside existing discrimination and the forced transfers of Ismaili officials out of the province, the influx and perceived favored treatment of naturalized Yemenis lead Ismailis to fear that continued naturalizations threaten their ethnic and religious identity and the future of the spiritual capital of Sulaimani Ismailism.

Coupled with the issue of naturalization of Yemeni tribes is the battle over land in Najran. Many Ismailis have waited for a decade or more to receive land grants from the state. Meanwhile, Ismailis have seen the government build cities with free housing and municipal services and distribute land plots to these Yemenis, whether they have become Saudi citizens or not. One satellite township erected around 2000 and since expanded, called Mish’aliyya after the governor, provides housing and city services for thousands of Yemenis.129 Many Ismailis see Prince Mish’al as the force behind a policy of restricting Ismaili access to land and jobs and suppressing their religious freedom.

Saudi officials regularly malign the Ismaili faith, which under the Fatimids of Egypt in the 10th and 11th centuries was the faith of the leading power in the Islamic world. In a fatwa (religious edict) issued on April 8, 2007, the Permanent Committee for Religious Research and Opinion, a subsidiary body to the Council of Senior Religious Scholars tasked with officially interpreting Islamic faith, ritual, and law, declared that “to call that state Fatimid [after the Prophet Muhammad’s daughter, Fatima] is a false label,” because “its founder was a magician,” and “he and his followers are corrupt infidels, debauched atheists.”130
Statements like this by government-appointed clerics put an official stamp of approval on an interpretation of Islamic history that disparages the Ismaili Fatimids.

The statement and its implications go beyond a characterization of a historical period by proclaiming that the Fatimid state wrought havoc on Muslims “which suffices to repel anyone who raises its flag and who advocates for it.” The Ismailis of Saudi Arabia feel historically connected and religiously bound to the Fatimid state, while not advocating for a return to it, but by the April 2007 fatwa state clerics declared that historical and religious allegiance impermissible: “[I]t is not allowed … for us to call on people to adhere to that deviant state of ‘Ubaid” (referring to the founder of the Fatimid caliphate, ‘Ubaid Allah al-Mahdi).131 The Ismailis of Najran considered this statement a grave insult aimed at delegitimizing their religious identity as Ismailis and as Muslims. Ismaili leaders, on April 24, 2007, presented a complaint to the governmental Human Rights Commission decrying “expressions of doubt and declarations [of Ismailis] as infidels” in the Committee’s statement.132 The government took no known steps to revise or clarify the fatwa.

This fatwa is not an isolated incidence. In August 2006, on the date Muslims believe that the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven from Jerusalem, Shaikh Salih al-Luhaidan, a cleric and Saudi Arabia’s supreme judge, gave a lecture in the Holy Mosque of Mekka. That night (lailat isra’ wal-mi’raj) is of particular religious significance to Ismailis, and they were present in large numbers in the Holy Mosque. In his lecture, al-Luhaidan said the Ismailis, “came from Morocco, Tunis, and Egypt, and they are Fatimids, and they are here [in Saudi Arabia] and there [in Egypt]. Outwardly they appear Islamic, but inwardly, they are infidels, infidels, infidels.”133

These incidents contradict the 2003 claim of a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official who told the UN committee evaluating Saudi Arabia’s report on its anti-discrimination measures that Saudi Arabia made use of all available educational and cultural means and the media to promote tolerance and eliminate discrimination. Religious and other academic curricula emphasized the firmly established Islamic principles prohibiting discrimination.134

A former teacher told Human Rights Watch that only in the 2004-05 (1425-26) editions of the history curricula did the Ministry of Education remove references to “deviant sects” (tuyur munharifa), which included the Ismailis by name.135

This stigmatization of Ismailis at the national level by leading government officials tasked with interpreting religion, and (by extension in Saudi Arabia) the law, contradicts King Abdullah’s professed goal of treating all subjects equally.136 In his April 2007 speech to the Shura Council, an appointed body, King Abdullah said that his goal was to preserve national unity and strengthen its guarantees … Kindling sectarian disputes, reviving regional feuds, and one group in society seeking to dominate another group stands in contrast to the guarantees of Islam and its liberality and constitutes a threat to the national unity and the security of the society and the state.137

“Kindling sectarian disputes” was the effect of an interview Najran’s governor Prince Mish’al gave to the Saudi-owned pan-Arab Al-Hayat newspaper on January 4, 2005. Nearly two years later, several Ismailis told Human Rights Watch how upset they were over the governor’s choice of words.138 Prince Mish’al, responding to a question about the extent of religious freedom that the Ismai’lis and Zaidis enjoy in Najran, said that he “invite[s the reporter] personally to visit the existing temples in Najran, and that [he] call[s on the reporter] to visit the person that they consider the number one in Ismailism, that is Shaikh al-Makrami,” to ask about freedom of religious practice.139 The Ismailis in Najran expressed their dismay at having the governor refer to their mosques as “temples,”140 a term Muslims generally use to indicate religious practices of non-Muslims, whereas Ismailis consider themselves to be nothing other than Muslims.

Only a few years earlier Ismaili leaders complained, in a petition to then-Crown Prince Abdullah, that “[t]he Minister of Interior described the people of the [Najran] region in the media as deviant and [practicing] sorcery and at one time the governor of Najran Prince Mish’al described Najran in the newspaper Okaz as the pit of corruption, ignorant [people].”141 In an undated letter written after 2005, Ismaili elders complained that Prince Mish’al insulted Ismailis in his majlis and via the press.142 In the wake of the Holiday Inn events in April 2000, Prince Mish’al described Ismaili cleric Muhammad al-Khayyat as a “sorcerer” illegally residing in Saudi Arabia whom the government had arrested “after obtaining incontrovertible evidence that he had been persistently practicing and teaching sorcery.”143

In November 2006 King Abdullah visited the region as part of his first tour of the provinces after acceding to the throne in August 2005. This was the first visit of a Saudi king to Najran in decades, and King Abdullah brought with him promises of a university and a technical college, a new hospital and other healthcare facilities, and other infrastructure projects with a total value of SAR 3.3 Billion [$893 million].144 He also pardoned a number of prisoners (see above).145

The authorities prohibited an exclusively Ismaili reception for the king. On October 12, 2006, Ahmad al-‘Ajalan, the office director of Prince Mish’al, made three local shaikhs, Ahmad Al Sa’b, Mas’ud Al Haidar, and Zaid Shuyul, pledge not to host a reception for the king, who had already agreed to come to such an event, lest it overshadow the official reception by the governor.146 Ismaili leaders alerted human rights organizations on October 28 that the minister of interior had given instructions to ban the reception on security grounds.147 Najranis later learned that Prince Mish’al had also restricted access to the official celebrations to those with identification badges distributed by the governorate. According to Najrani elders, only members of the Sai’ar and Karab tribes, from the largely Sunni town of Shurura, obtained such badges.148

To detract from this evidence of continuing discord between the governor and local Ismaili shaikhs, unknown persons placed a full-page advertisement in Al-Watan newspaper that falsely presented shaikhs Mas’ud Haidar and Ahmad Al Sa’b as thanking Prince Mish’al, King Abdullah, and Crown Prince Sultan for the “renaissance and development” of Najran. Neither of the shaikhs had placed the advertisement, and strongly disagreed with the message. After the shaikhs complained in court, the king ordered a committee to investigate the matter, which persuaded the shaikhs to drop the dispute.149

The king’s visit was overshadowed by an apparent mistake in the pardoning of one prisoner. A Sunni judge had sentenced Hadi Al Mutif to death in 1994 for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Al Mutif was beaten in the court room, his Ismaili religion insulted by the judge, and he never received a copy of the court’s verdict to file an appeal. His case had attracted international attention around the time of the king’s visit, and authorities at Najran prison were processing him for release following the king’s pardon. A last minute phone call sent him back to prison after officials realized that his death sentence was for a crime against God (hadd), which is not subject to royal pardons.150 (The case is discussed further in Chapter VIII.)

2007 saw signs of rapprochement. The Da’i, Abdullah al-Makrami, who assumed his functions upon the death of Husain bin Isma’il al-Makrami in June 2005, invited Prince Mish’al to visit Khushaiwa. In November 2007 the Ministry of Interior in Riyadh directed officials in Najran “not to interfere in affairs pertaining to the creed or jurisprudence of the followers of the Ismaili school of thought.”151 Najranis writing on local websites welcomed these instructions. In January 2008 Shaikh Mas’ud al-Haidar, an elected member of the city council and a critic of the governor’s earlier policies, invited Prince Mish’al to his house, congratulating him for his recent efforts on behalf of the region.152

Notes

126 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with an Ismaili, Najran, IN1, February 12, 2008. He said that it was a verbal undertaking given to the head of the al-Saq tribe.

127 The Sudairy family is extremely close to the Al Sa’ud. King Abd al-Aziz took several wives from the Sudairys. The sons of one of these marriages hold senior government positions.

128 Human Rights Watch is in possession of numerous documents detailing the naturalization of these Yemeni refugees and governmental service provision for them. We are, however, unable to assess the procedural irregularity Ismailis claim occurred in granting citizenship, and, while we were able to verify the governmental provision of housing and services to these Yemenis, we were unable to determine conclusively that these Yemenis received preferential treatment not based on need.

129 Human Rights Watch visit to Mish’aliyya, Najran, December 15, 2006.

130 “The Permanent Committee for Religious Research and Opinion Issues an Explanatory Statement: Calling ‘Ubaid’s State ‘Fatimid’ Is False and Forged”, Al-Riyadh, April 9, 2007, http://www.alriyadh.com/2007/04/09/article240297.html (accessed January 17, 2008).

131 Ibid. See also Andrew Hammond, “Arab History Spat Highlights Sunni-Shi’ite Rift,” Reuters, May 14, 2007.

132 Complaint by 66 Ismailis from Najran to Shaikh Turki al-Sudairy, Chairman of the Human Rights Commission, April 24, 2007, and Human Rights Watch interview with two Ismailis, IR2, IR3 Riyadh, May 20 and 22, 2007.

133 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with an Ismaili present at al-Luhaidan’s lecture in the Holy Mosque on August 21, 2006, IEP1, Eastern Province, February 2007.

134 Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Sixty-second session, Summary Record of the 1558th Meeting, March 5, 2003, CERD/C/SR.1558, March 10, 2003.

135 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Ismaili teacher, IN4, Najran, April 29, 2008. The “deviant” sects were the Sabaiya, the Batiniya, the Khawarij, and the Ismailis.

136 King Abdullah to the Citizens: I Pledge that I Take the Quran as a Constitution and Islam as an Approach. My Job is to Realize Right, Establish Justice and Serve the Citizens Without Differentiation. Speech on the occasion of acceding to the throne, Ash-Shura Magazine (vol.7, no. 70), August, 3, 2005, http://www.shura.gov.sa//ArabicSite/majalat/majalah70/malaf.HTM (accessed July, 24, 2008).

137 Muhammad al-Ghanim, Bandar al-Nasir, and Muhammad al-Shishani, “King Abdullah: You Have the Right to Expect Me to Beat the Pests of Tyranny and Oppression with Justice”, Al-Riaydh, April 15, 2007, http://www.alriyadh.com/2007/04/15/article242026.html (accessed February 12, 2008).

138 Human Rights Watch interviews with several Ismailis , IN5, IN6, IN2, Najran, December 13, 2006.

139 “Interview with Prince Mish’al bin Sa’ud,” Al-Hayat, January 4, 2005 (23/11/1425).

140 Human Rights Watch interview with Ismailis in Najran, IN5, IN6 December 13, 2006.

141 “First Petition to Deputy Prime Minister and Crown Prince Abdullah, 13 Ismaili Shaikhs,” point 7.

142 Mas’ud Al Haidar and Shaikh Ahmed Al Sa’b, “Justice is the Foundation of Rule”, Letter to King Abdullah, undated (c. post-August 2005), p. 4.

143 “Ismaili Unrest in Saudi Arabia: Isolated Incident or Serious Trouble?” Mideast Mirror, April 25, 2000, quoting an official statement issued by the Saudi Press Agency.

144 “King Abdullah launches development projects in Najran,” Saudi Embassy, Washington, DC, November 1, 2006, http://www.saudiembassy.net/2006News/News/GovDetail.asp?cIndex=6624 (accessed January 17, 2008).

145 “On the other hand an official source of the Ministry of Interior said today that the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz has pardoned a number of those convicted in Najran incidents and those sentenced to serve terms in prison of the remaining periods of their verdicts and ordered their release, except those who were convicted to be killed for carrying arms, reducing their convicts to life imprisonment.” Ain al-Yaqeen (official news website), November 3, 2006, http://www.ain-al-yaqeen.com/issues/20061103/feat1en.htm (accessed May 17, 2008).

146 Human Rights Watch interviews with Ismaili tribal elders (names withheld), Najran, December 12, 2006; and “Najran: The Governorate Summons Regional Leaders to Make them Abort Popular Celebration of the King’s Visit”, Al-Rasid News Network, October 16, 2006, http://www.rasid.net/artc.php?id=13138 (accessed November 9, 2007).

147 Email communication from an Ismaili, IN7, to Human Rights Watch, October 28, 2006.

148 Human Rights Watch interview with Ismaili tribal elders, IN5, IN6, Najran, December 12, 2006.

149 Ibid.

150 He remains in prison, and attempted suicide several times. Human Rights Watch telephone interviews with prisoners present during the processing of Al Mutif, November 1, 2006, and with Ismailis in Najran (names withheld), December 12, 2006. “Saudi Arabia: Mentally Ill Prisoner Put in Solitary,” Human Rights Watch news release, February 2, 2007, http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/02/02/saudia15243.htm; and Letter from Human Rights Watch letter to King Abdullah, “Saudi Arabia: Pardon Isma’ili Sentenced to Death,” October 10, 2006, http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/10/10/saudia14372.htm.

151 “Instruction from ‘Interior’ to Respect Ismaili School of Thought and the Special Characteristics of Its Supporters”. Al-Rasid News Network, November 7, 2007, http://www.rasid.com/artc.php?id=19051 (accessed November 9, 2007).

152 Ali ‘Awn al-Yami, “Prince Mish’al bin Sa’ud Honors Celebration of the Deputy President of Najran’s Municipal Council”, Al-Riyadh, January 17, 2008, http://www.alriyadh.com/2008/01/17/article309625.html (accessed February 12, 2008).

Note
Picture: Typical landscape of Najran, an oasis turned to Hell

Tags: Against, Attacks, Evilness, Official, Revelation, Saudi, Shia, Subjugated, Wahhabi, Yemenites

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