Not nearly as bad as the time they refused to allow little schoolgirls to leave a burning building because they did not have their headveils, subjecting them to a firery death.
Quote
Saudi Court Orders Lashing, Jail for 20 Foreigners for Drinking, Dancing at Mixed Party
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia � A Saudi Arabian judge sentenced 20 foreigners to receive lashes and spend several months in prison after convicting them of attending a party where alcohol was served and men and women danced, a newspaper reported Sunday.
The defendants were among 433 foreigners, including some 240 women, arrested by the kingdom's religious police for attending the party in Jiddah, the state-guided newspaper Okaz said. It did not identify the foreigners, give their nationalities or say when the party took place.
Click here to view report/photos from Saudi 'religious police' Web site on arrest of foreigners for alcohol possession.
Judge Saud al-Boushi sentenced the 20 to prison terms of three to four months and ordered them to receive an unspecified number of lashes, the newspaper said. They have the right to appeal, it added.
The prosecutor general charged the 20 with "drinking, arranging for impudent party, mixed dancing and shooting a video for the party," Okaz said.
The paper said the rest of those arrested were awaiting trial.
Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam under which it bans alcohol and meetings between unrelated men and women.
The religious police, a force resented by many Saudis for interfering in personal lives, enjoys wide powers. Its officers roam malls, markets, universities and other public places looking for such infractions as unrelated men and women mingling, men skipping Islam's five daily prayers and women with strands of hair showing from under their veil.
In May, the Interior Ministry restricted the powers of the religious police to just arresting suspects, because the police sometimes had held people incommunicado and insisted on taking part in ensuing investigations.
I find this horrendous and feel such sorrow for those living there. I cannot help but think of how stupid it is to travel into Saudi Arabia, knowing as any traveler must about their laws, and to go to a co-ed party with drinking and dancing. Yes, the government shouldn't regulate it. If this were my daughter or son who was arrested, I would be outraged at the rules and also frustrated with my child for knowingly and willingly subjecting himself to the rules, then deliberately breaking them.
There is a story about a Motorola employee who went to work in Saudi Arabia at a manufacturing plant. He saw a man just before leaving the fenced in area after work toss a spool of copper wiring over the fence, and then go and pick it up on the other side. Motorola's ethics policy at the time dictated reporting employee theft, so he went and told the guards. The guards said not to worry - they would take care of it.
After about a week of the empoyee not showing up to work, the man enquired as to his status.
"Oh, him," the guards said. "His head was cut off yesterday."
"What?!?" the distressed employee cried out. "Why?"
"We have laws about stealing in this country. His finger and hand had been cut off already, so he was beheaded for the third offense."
Motorola adjusted its ethics policy in Saudi Arabia.
If it is our job (meaning we Americans) to promote liberty, democracy, free enterprise and the american way to the world, then why aren't we invading Saudi Arabia? Why do we never hear any public outrage from the Bush administration over the treatment of fellow Christians in Saudi Arabia?
If it raises h... to attack backwater Iraq imagine what it would raise if the US attack the holiest place in Islam. The day may come but do you think we in the US are ready for it? Who would help us? I can just imagine what some who used to post here would say to even making the suggestion.
If it raises h... to attack backwater Iraq imagine what it would raise if the US attack the holiest place in Islam. The day may come but do you think we in the US are ready for it? Who would help us? I can just imagine what some who used to post here would say to even making the suggestion.
CDL
Well, for the record, I'm opposed to all of our military intervention in the middle east, with the exception of using forces to find Osama Bin Laden. But, my point was, why Iraq and not Saudi Arabia? Why Iraq and not Iran? Why the necessity of invading Iraq? The whole world is filled with brutal dictatorships. Some of them harbor terrorists, some have weapons of mass destruction, and most probably funnel money to terrorist networks. We consider Saudi Arabia an ally. Why?
My own view is that all of our middle eastern foreign policy is based on economics. Since, we do good business with Saudi Arabia and China, there is no need to start war with them. But "liberating" Iraq would be a great way to open up new markets for American companies and have a permanent military base in the middle east to boot.
Sorry, I'm rambling. It is just that whenever I hear about the brutal policies of these friends of the Bush administration (and the Saudis and the Bushes have been friends for a long time), I just can't help but think that this is not about keeping America safe and it is not about liberty and human rights. It is about corporate interests. God bless.
If it is our job (meaning we Americans) to promote liberty, democracy, free enterprise and the american way to the world, then why aren't we invading Saudi Arabia? Why do we never hear any public outrage from the Bush administration over the treatment of fellow Christians in Saudi Arabia?
Would you believe that in 2002 the Saudi government bought air time on several Chicago based Rock and Roll stations and had commercials in which they stated that they were committed allies of the United States and active participants in the War on Terror.
I'm not in favor of going to war against the Saudis, but I'd like to see the US end all aid to them.
After reading the article, I can't help but wonder if the people arrested were servants...maybe from the Filipines. They should have been careful, but I guess they began to feel comfortable.
Actually though, I hear that Dubai is absolutely lovely. Trump is building the tallest apartment in the world there...or so I believe. Just imagine a place where one can raise their children without having them come in contact with what we see on our TV's. Of course, Dubai is also a lot freer and more open than the rest of the Arab world. It even has a Greek Orthodox Church.
It has been said, that because of our regulations and especially our litigation, that New York is not the financial capital of the world anymore. It has been replaced by Dubai, Hong Kong and Tokyo.
As for the rules and regulations concerning women, in the 1800's, women didn't dare enter a banking establishment...and that was in the U.S.A.
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