Saudi's Secret Uprising Our World

Peaceful and prosperous. A royal family in control. This is what you

don't see. People are taking to the streets to fight against what they

see as oppression. They are the biggest political protests that

Saudi Arabia has ever experienced. The Saudi government is determined

to stop the protests. It is nearly impossible for

journalists to operate here. But I have travelled in under the radar.

Activists have given the rare footage, showing how the conflict

has developed. Hundreds have been injured in jail. 20 young men have

been killed. I am Saffer a mad, and I have come home to see an

unprecedented uprising. `` Safa Al Ahmad.

In the kingdom's oil`rich Eastern province, three years of protests

are ongoing. In the epicentre, this region. According to many locals,

the vast oil wealth has failed to trickle down, and discontent has

been growing. Foreign journalists rarely get access to Qatif these

days. Even inside Saudi Arabia the protests are hardly ever recorded.

But I know the area well, as I was born and raised in a city nearby. I

want to find out how protests by the Shia minority have lasted three

years, without being silenced. The uprising kicked off in early 2011

with protesters demanding the release of nine men, held for years

without trial. The demonstrators were also emboldened by the Arab

uprising sweeping through the Middle East. But in a country ruled by an

autocratic monarchy, organised dissent is rarely tolerated.

Security forces were swiftly sent in, dozens of people were arrested.

But the protests didn't stop, and three years on, checkpoints are

still in the area. Even though I am Saudi, it is still difficult for me

to move around, and I could be arrested. I want to know why

activists are risking their lives to demonstrate. Although few have

spoken to the media, I have tracked down some young men who have agreed

to be interviewed. But they are afraid to be identified and want

their voices altered. I meet dozens of protesters in

secret meetings, and it becomes clear there are no unified demands,

but all want major reform in the country.

In this Muslim country of 28 million people, there have been

long`standing tensions between the majority Sunni sect, who run the

government, and the Shia community. Shia are in a minority, and most

live in the eastern province, which sits on top of the world's largest

oilfields. They make up less than 15% of the population, and many

claim they suffer sectarian discrimination. It takes me months

to find someone who will speak freely about how the protests are

organised. I finally meet a man who believes they are having a definite

impact. He is part of a loose coalition of

activists formed in 2012. He agrees to give the BBC access to dozens of

hours of extraordinary footage. Shot over the past three years. Most of

it has never been broadcast before. I can't verify its Origin, but it

would be hard to fake this year scale and range of the material. At

the beginning, there are regular demonstrations, and the footage

shows both the police and the activists are restrained.

Within a month, the activists start throwing stones and Molotov

cocktails. The police switch from firing tear

gas to bullets. At the time, the government appeared confident the

clashes were not significant. But by the end of 2011, it was more

widespread than the government would admit. Human rights organisations

recorded hundreds of people detained without trial. This man is key to

stress the protests are peaceful. The pictures tell a more complex

story. Here, the protesters are attacking police patrols. This kind

of action has angered many locals, who don't agree with these tactics.

As the protests intensified, the government appealed to Shia clerics

to calm the situation. Only a few openly support the protesters. This

footage shows the most vocal of them, Sheikh Nimr al`Nimr. This is

him after the death of a highly controversial government minister,

in June, 2012. It was speeches like these that many

believe led to Sheikh Nimr al`Nimr's arrest hours later. I met

his brother, Mohamed al`Nimr. We drive out to his farm under the

cover of darkness. The police pursuit ended with the

man injured. Police said he was opening fire on the police. He is

now in prison, facing the death penalty.

The arrest of such an influential cleric brings the people of Qatif

onto the streets, demanding his release. This footage shows the

dramatic scale of the protests. The police opened fire. More are

injured. Two are dead. By the end of 2012, 15 young men have been

killed. Nine of them from the town of Awamiya. Awamiya has a high level

of poverty and unemployment, and has historically been at the forefront

of confrontations with the authorities. He shows an eclipse of

a young activist from the town, who appears in many of the videos. He

was there from the start and quickly became one of the movement's most

active leaders. Morsi is seen here, confronting the security forces and

the police Lieutenant Colonel plainclothes.

He is openly frustrated with the situation, as the crowd demands the

release of a fellow activist. Morsi doesn't fear the authorities, and

his actions get him noticed. He is named in a list of the 23 most

wanted man in relation to the protests in Qatif.

The battlelines are drawn. Qatif has become a militarised zone by the end

of 2013. I get the message. The security forces have raided the

houses of Morsi and another wanted activist. But they have managed to

escape. As I make my way to their neighbourhood, the atmosphere is

tense. I arrive just hours after the rain. `` raid. They have not risked

speaking to the media before but now they are determined to tell their

story. We go up to the roof and Morsi shows

me where he says he came under fire. Was it's family was not home. He

narrowly escaped by hiding in one of the neighbouring alleyways. ``

Morsi's. I follow them to a house nearby. The

security forces would show up at any moment so I turn off my camera.

His disabled sister was in the house at the time. His mother is still in

shock. They move away from their homes to

protect their families. They have already seen other wanted then

arrested and killed. `` wanted man. Five months earlier, he was shot

dead in front of his house. He was the first of the 23 wanted to be

killed. Thousands attended the funeral. And

the day became known as bloody Wednesday.

His mother is still in mourning when I visit and doesn't want her face

shown. Khaled Labad I ask's mother if she

would let her children protest now. I'm getting concerned the

authorities will discover I am filming. And I decide to leave Saudi

Arabia. It is important to get the videos out of the country and

protect the identities of those I have spoken to so far. Between

visits, I spend months scrutinising the protest footage. Dozens of hours

of it. One of the things I find surprises me. A video of an attack

on the police in Awamiya, dated October three 2011. The day before,

the police had arrested two men to pressure their sons to surrender.

You can see an activist on the right`hand side, pulling a small

handgun from a scarf. I showed footage to Toby Matthiesen

who has closely monitored the uprisings in the Gulf. I have never

seen it before but of course, as soon as a small group uses of

islands against the state, it is easy for the state to legitimise the

whole movement. If a fight people take up arms, they can do a lot of

damage to the overall movement but it doesn't mean it represents

everyone. The government has always maintained the protesters are using

weapons. We wanted to talk to someone from

the Saudi government or at least to get answers to our questions. But

after more than a year of many calls and e`mails they stopped responding.

When I returned to Saudi Arabia in 2013 the mood is very different.

Sleeping antiterrorism laws than in most forms of dissent are about to

be passed throughout the country. People are even more afraid to

speak. After weeks of trying to find people

to talk to me on the record, this woman finally agreed.

She is scared of retaliation from the government and the activist. She

lives near the police station and is regularly caught in the crossfire.

Even Shia clerics who once supported the protesters are now critical of

the violent turn of the uprising. But the activists say the government

has been engaging in a violent crackdown. A crackdown where Morsi

was targeted again. This time he did not get away.

His friends say he was shot dead by police while preparing for a

religious festival. He sustained multiple gunshot wounds.

After the death of Morsi, I find Hassan, views have changed. ``

Hassan's. With activist taking up weapons,

both sides are now entrenched. And then, in a recent clash, two

policemen are killed in a shootout with activists. The government now

considers armed protesters terrorists. This is a game changer

for both sides. The ruling family don't want any political reform and

really just want to show their iron fist. The only reaction to that can

either be apathy or violence. There is no way of engaging with the state

at the moment. If you are a reformist in Saudi Arabia.

I go to the Awamiya Cemetery where there is a special plot for those

killed during the uprising. It is the final resting place of Morsi.

Of the 23 most wanted, to have been killed, 13 have been arrested. And

eight are in hiding. It has become too risky for me to continue

investigating the story. I must leave my country. A country where

fear and paranoia have taken hold of the people around me. And dissent

has been wished underground once again. `` pushed underground once

again. Hello again. After a drab week with

outbreaks of rainfall most of us, we can promise is a change. It is

looking it with a few scattered showers but most will see some

sunshine. There will be some wet weather working its way into the

north`west on Sunday. Those of us start the week and dry but one or

two showers could break out in parts of south Wales, the Midlands,

north`west England. That is