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B. Sharia law is based on Islamic teachings and texts. Saudi Arabia's Sharia law is not codified, and judges may use their own legal reasoning to make a decision. There are no jury trials in Saudi Arabia. At trial, there is a presumption of guilt, and the accused is often unable to examine witnesses and evidence or present a legal defense. Most trials are held in secret.
C. King Abdullah rules Saudi Arabia as an absolute monarch. He is one of the many sons of Ibn Saud, who fought a 30-year war of conquest to found modern Saudi Arabia in 1932. The royal House of Saud dates back hundreds of years and allied itself with the Salafi Movement in the 18th Century. This fundamentalist Sunni sect is now the nation's dominant form of Islam.
D. Islamic State forces control large areas of Iraq and Syria where they have used religious arguments to justify mass executions and enslaving women. The Islamic State is seen as a threat to the kingdom, and Saudi Arabia has joined the fight against the terrorists. Islamic State fighters who have returned to their home countries have been blamed in several terrorist plots.
A. While all atheists are considered terrorists, Jews, Christians, Hindus and Buddhists are not allowed to openly worship in Saudi Arabia. The Shia Muslim minority also faces severe discrimination. A top Saudi official once told a British spy chief that soon “it will be “literally 'God help the Shia'. More than a billion Sunnis have simply had enough of them."