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March 25, 2007

Saudi Arabia: Islamic Justice - 60 Lashes For Running Away From Family

Saudi Arabia is busy exporting its Wahhabist ideology around the world, as if it is a set of values that deserves any respect. Yet at home, where women are not allowed to drive cars, the backward laws of Wahhabism treat women as "objects" and not as people. Women are denied rights to vote, though Prince Mansour ibn Miteb, chairman of the General Committee for Municipal Elections, has promised that in 2008 this will change.

This weekend, according to DPA and India E-news, a young woman who ran away from her troubled home has been sentenced to be incarcerated in a foster home for girls. The news was originally reported in Saudi newspaper Al-Watan. Not content with this punishment, the Saudi court also ordered that the young woman should be given 60 lashes. The "young woman" is 20 years old.

Because of the backwards ideology which controls all aspects of Saudi life, a "responsible male guardian" such as a husband or wife must accompany a woman at all times.

If a woman is in company with someone to whom she is not married, she can be jailed. In June 2006 a 70-year old woman with a disability had the audacity to enter a shop in Al Deira market in Riyadh where only one man - the storekeeper - was present. As a result, she was arrested and carted off to a women's jail. The male shop owner was not arrested, and it was only after a search by relatives that the elderly lady was found to be in prison. She had committed the crime of "khalwat" - the sin of "unlawful seclusion" with a male.

The fanatics who arrested the elderly woman belong to the "Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice", the kingdom's morality police. These individuals, called mutawi, muttawa or mutawi'oon have a reputation for acting as if they have impunity and are above the law. In May, the Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef slightly reduced the powers of the "religious policemen". He decreed on May 23 that they would no longer have powers to detain suspects for hours, in cases of "harassment" that have brought resentment.

The most outrageous incident of the religious policemen overstepping their responsibilities only became news because a member of the ruling royal family, the House of Saud, leaked the report to the newspapers. On March 11, 2002 the religious policemen refused to allow schoolgirls to flee a burning dormitory at Mecca. They also prevented the fire services from dealing with the conflagration. As girls tried to escape the flames, the religious policemen beat them with sticks and forced them back into the building - because they were not wearing "suitable" attire. As a result, 15 innocent girls died unnecessarily.

In today's Arab News, Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Ghaith (pictured), current president of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice is interviewed. Certain questions, such as one which mentioned the differences between Islamic schools of thought about whether women should have their faces covered (for the muttawa, all women's faces should be covered by a niqab.

The sheikh said that following a Royal Decree issued on September 7, 1980, the muttawa must follow strict guidelines concerning behavior. He indicated that the muttawa were not above the law - even though the zealots who caused the 15 schoolgirls to die appear to have never received any discipline.

What is interesting is the medieval mindset which is upheld by the Commission. This is a quote:

The commission plays a large role in capturing people who practice sorcery or delusions since these are vices which affect the faith of Muslims and cause harm to both nationals and expatriates. The commission has assigned centers in every city and town to be on the lookout for these men. As for their fate, they are arrested and then transferred to concerned authorities. The commission also has a role in breaking magic spells, which are found in the sea. We cooperate with divers in this aspect. After the spells are found, they are then broken using recitations of the Holy Qur'an. We do not use magic to break magic spells, as this is against the teachings of Islam as mentioned by the Supreme Ulema. But we use the Qur'an as did the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

The kingdom is backwards in almost all aspects of justice and administration - partly as a result of it being a monarchy ruled by an oligarchy drawn from the numerous progeny of the House of Saud, and partly due to the backwards ideology of Wahabbism.

In November 2006, a woman who was a victim of gang rape was sentenced to 90 lashes, because she had been in a car with a man who was not a male relative or husband. She had been "kidnapped at knifepoint, gang-raped and then beaten by her brother".

The woman spoke to the Saudi Gazette at the start of this month. The man with whom she had been in the car was also sentenced to 90 lashes.

The 19-year old woman, who is now appealing against her sentence, said that one of the judges had told her that she was lucky to have escaped going to jail. She said: "I was shocked at the verdict. I couldn't believe my ears."

Her account is that she had been blackmailed into meeting the male in a car. This individual had threatened to tell her family that they were having an extramarital relationship. She had met the man as arranged, and when they stopped the car, the pair were abducted by at least five men, who drove them to a farm, where the woman was raped 14 times.

With the stress of the court case, the woman had tried to commit suicide. A women's rights activist, Fuziyah al-Ouni, said to the Saudi Gazette: "By sentencing her to 90 lashes they are sending a message that she is guilty. No rape victim is guilty."

In any other country but Saudi Arabia, Iran and anywhere else where Sharia Law is observed, such a statement might be true.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at March 25, 2007 4:45 PM

Comments

Posted by: Sir Henry Morgan at March 25, 2007 5:51 PM

Posted by: Celsius at March 26, 2007 3:46 PM

Posted by: persian and anti islam at March 29, 2007 3:48 PM

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