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April 24, 2006
Saudi Arabia: Mosques To Be Electronically Monitored
Today, Italian news agency AKI reported that mosques in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, are to be fitted with electronic equipment to monitor what goes on. The reasons are two-fold, as a security measure, and also for surveillance.
The Saudi Islamic Affairs minister, Saleh al-Sheikh (pictured), was reported in the pan-Arabic newspaper al-Hayat as saying that a Geographic Information System (GIS) would be employed in these places of worship, enabling the authorities "to film the mosque and know all its components and contents."
All mosques in Saudi Arabia are to eventually be fitted with such devices by mid-2008. The GIS systems will enable the preachers, muezzin and worshippers while prayers are led.
AKI states that the authorities wish to see what goes on as Mosques as they "all too often become centres of Islamic fundamentalism."
There is one positive point made in the article. Last week, the Islamic Affairs minister announced that his ministry would be examining the possibility of allowing female preachers.
This certainly would be a positive step, in a country where women are not allowed to even drive vehicles. It is not stated whether or not the GIS monitoring will allow audio, enabling speeches to be recorded.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at April 24, 2006 8:00 PM
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