Special to WorldTribune.com

ABU DHABI — On Nov. 5, Culture and Information Minister Abdul Aziz Khoja was fired hours after he announced the closure of an anti-Shi’ite Wahabi television channel amid a purported Wahabi attack on a Shi’ite mosque.

Khoja was fired by King Abdullah, who then canceled the closure order on the Wesal television channel.

The dismissal of a Cabinet minister has demonstrated the power of the Wahabi elite in Saudi Arabia.

“Wesal channel continues and minister [Khoja] has been relieved of his position,” Wesal said in a Tweet message on Nov. 5.

The order by Khoja to close Wesal was submitted in wake of a Wahabi attack, linked to police, on a Shi’ite mosque in the oil-rich Eastern Province, in which at least seven people were killed. Wesal has highlighted the Sunni-Shi’ite struggle in the Middle East and expressed joy at the killing of Shi’ite rebels in Yemen. In one Tweet, Wesal also called for the bombing of Shi’ite villages in Lebanon.

“I gave orders to shut down the office of Wesal in Riyad and to ban any broadcasting of the channel from Saudi Arabia,” Khoja said in a statement. “The channel is not Saudi in the first place.”

But Saudi sources acknowledged that Wesal was part of the powerful Wahabi establishment and supported by the state-aligned clergy as well as the National Guard. They said Wesal reflected fear and hatred of Iran and Shi’ites that led to Gulf Arab support for Islamic State of Iraq and Levant.

“Will the [Shi’ite] channels that spread their venom against our faith and incite against Gulf countries also be shut down?” Mohammed Khalid Bu Amar, a leading Islamist and former parliamentarian in neighboring Bahrain, asked.

  Saudi culture minister fired after challenging Wahabi elite, WorldTribune.com