shia, human rights groups and other observers have complained of "systematic discrimination" of shia in saudi arabia "in religion, education, justice, and employment". unlike other countries with sizable shia populations (such as iraq and lebanon), saudi arabia has no shia cabinet ministers, mayors or police chiefs. shia are kept out of "critical jobs" in the armed forces and the security services, and not one of the three hundred shia girls’ schools in the eastern province has a shia principal. in the eastern provinces of saudi arabia there are shia courts who deal with cases such as marriage, divorce and inheritance. shia demonstrations in qatif have sometimes led to conflict with sunni saudi religious authorities who disapprove of shia commemorations marking the martyrdom of hussein ibn ali by the sunni caliph yazid i. there also shias living in southern saudi arabia, who are mostly from the zaydi branch.