Showing posts with label Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Show all posts
Saturday, October 27, 2018
A Look at the Kingdom of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
Saturday, July 11, 2009
BBC: A family in Saudi Arabia is taking a "genie" to court, accusing it of theft and harassment, reports say.
They accuse the spirit of threatening them, throwing stones and stealing mobile phones, Al Watan newspaper said.
The family have lived in the same house near the city of Medina for 15 years but say they only recently became aware of the spirit. They have now moved out.
A local court is investigating. In Islamic theology, genies are spirits that can harass or possess humans.
'Get out of the house'
"We began to hear strange sounds," the head of the family, who come from Mahd Al Dahab, told the Saudi daily. He did not want to be named.
"At first we did not take it seriously, but then stranger things started to happen and the children got particularly scared when the genie started throwing stones."
He added: "A woman spoke to me first, and then a man. They said we should get out of the house."
A local court says it is trying to verify the truthfulness of the claims "despite the difficulty" of doing so. Saudi 'genie' sued for harassment >>> | Saturday, July 11, 2009
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
ARAB NEWS: For too long the Arab world has been waiting in vain for a US administration that will address the rights of the Palestinians within a viable sovereign state of their own. For too long America’s friends and allies within the region, among whom the best and most long-standing has been Saudi Arabia, have been urging on successive US presidents the reality that the terrible injustices done to the Palestinians underpin the violence and extremism that has gripped the region. For too long Washington has not listened to our message that its slavish and unquestioning support for a bullying and expansionist Israel has, in fact, sabotaged America’s wider foreign policy goals in the Middle East and throughout the Muslim world.
As today we welcome President Barack Obama to the Kingdom, dare we hope that we are greeting a US leader who is at last listening to the advice and warnings that have so long been ignored in Washington? Saudi Arabia has itself provided one of the major building blocks for a lasting resolution. The 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, first proposed by King Abdullah when he was crown prince and later endorsed unanimously by the Arab League summit in Beirut, remains in place. It negates Israeli protests that they have no partners for peace, because it offers 22 Arab states who will recognize Israel as part of a comprehensive and just settlement for Palestinians. Once the Arab countries recognize Israel, the rest of the Muslim world will follow suit.
The American president has to cut through much lumber left by his predecessors. At the heart of it lies a legacy of often-deep distrust that has built up in the Arab world.
From time to time Washington promises to tackle the Palestinian issue, especially when it wanted Arab support for the Iraq war or its confrontation with Iran. Because it failed to honor this pledge, it encouraged extremism among Palestinians who felt the betrayal bitterly and gave the bigoted thugs of Al-Qaeda an excuse for their fanatical violence. Obama’s people say that when he addresses the Arab world in Cairo tomorrow, he will be speaking from the heart. No doubt. But he should know that he needs also to be speaking to the hearts of Arab people themselves, who have learned to disbelieve Washington’s warm words and will only now judge America by its deeds.
No one believes the president has a magic wand. In the Likud government of Benjamin Netanyahu he faces an apparently intransigent negotiator. But it is often the most inflexible sticks that break first. Despite the powerful Zionist Washington lobby, Obama has the power to bring about radical change for the Palestinians, for Israelis too and for the whole region. He is a man who has dedicated himself to change and indeed represents it in his own presidency. His domestic and international agendas are daunting. But it seems he recognizes how pivotal a Palestinian settlement is to a large portion of US interests. His welcome here today is, therefore, all the warmer for the high hopes with which we greet him. [Source: Arab News | Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Thursday, May 08, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardcover – USA)
Monday, January 21, 2008
THE TELEGRAPH: Saudi Arabia is to lift its ban on women drivers in an attempt to stem a rising suffragette-style movement in the deeply conservative state.
Government officials have confirmed the landmark decision and plan to issue a decree by the end of the year.
The move is designed to forestall campaigns for greater freedom by women, which have recently included protesters driving cars through the Islamic state in defiance of a threat of detention and loss of livelihoods.
The royal family has previously balked at granting women driving permits, claiming the step did not have full public support.
The driving ban dates back to the establishment of the state in 1932, although recently the government line has weakened.
"There has been a decision to move on this by the Royal Court because it is recognised that if girls have been in schools since the 1960s, they have a capability to function behind the wheel when they grow up," a government official told The Daily Telegraph. "We will make an announcement soon." Saudi Arabia to lift ban on women drivers >>> By Damien McElroy in Riyadh
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
Friday, January 11, 2008
ARAB NEWS: LONDON — Princess Adelah bint Abdullah, the daughter of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, should perhaps take a leaf from the copybook of Marina Mohamed and Nori Abdullah. Marina is the daughter of former Malaysian Premier Dr. Mahathir Mohamed and Nori is the daughter of the current Premier Abdullah Badawi. They are known for giving their fathers “an earful” regarding the rights and empowerment of Muslim women.
Perhaps the reforms which Saudi Arabia has instituted in the last year or so regarding the greater role of women in Saudi society and economy may indeed have had some influence from Princess Adelah.
But, women such as Lubna Al-Olayan, CEO of Olayan Financial Services; Samra Al-Kuwaiz, managing director of Osool Brokerage Company (Women’s Division); Nabila Tunisi, acting manager, projects department at Saudi Aramco, and Soha Aboul Farag, a banker with 17 years of experience who last year was chosen for the “International Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership” in the US, are the pioneers for the new and future generations of Saudi women especially in an era of socio-economic reforms in the Kingdom where the contribution of women to economic development is being increasingly acknowledged.
As professional women in high-powered jobs, they have successfully managed to carve out careers as working mothers while at the same time managing their families and dispelling the oft-quoted stereotype of Saudi women — of a meek, compliant and oppressed section of society. The good news is that the government is actually engaging with women in the Kingdom as part of a speeding up of the reform process. Women ‘Own’ Some 1500 companies >>> By Mushtak Parker
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
Thursday, January 03, 2008
THE INDEPENDENT: Fouad al-Farhan knew they were coming for him. A few days before Saudi security forces swooped on his offices, he sent a letter to friends telling them he was a wanted man. "They will pick me up any time in the next two weeks," he predicted.
His crime? Writing one of the most widely read blogs in Saudi Arabia.
Mr Farhan, 32, who describes his online mission as "searching for freedom, dignity, justice, equality, public participation and other lost Islamic values", had already broken ground by refusing to hide behind a pen-name as he vented his spleen about the rampant corruption blighting political life. Now he has clocked up another first – the first blogger to be arrested in the kingdom.
The blogger was picked up on 10 December from the offices of his computer company in Jeddah, but it was not until this week that the interior ministry finally confirmed his arrest.
Blogging has seen something of a boom in Saudi Arabia, allowing dissident voices a space in a society were the media is kept on a tight leash and where political parties and public gatherings are banned. There are an estimated 600 bloggers in Saudi Arabia, male and female, conservative and liberal, writing in English and Arabic.
The arrest of Mr Farhan has sent shock waves around internet users in Saudi Arabia. "Although we have seen bloggers in Bahrain, Kuwait and Egypt arrested and jailed, I thought this wouldn't happen here," said Ahmed Al-Omran, 23, a student in Riyadh who blogs under the name Saudi Jeans. Blogger who dared to expose Saudi corruption is arrested >>> By Claire Soares
WATCH YOUTUBE VIDEO: Freedom of Expression Saudi Style
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
ARAB NEWS: RIYADH, 2 January 2007 — The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) has called on HIV carriers who received unfair treatment from their employers or from the public to come forward and register their cases with the rights body. The process is part of an initiative by the NSHR to gather information from HIV-positive persons on the sort of maltreatment they receive in Saudi Arabia due to their conditions.
Legislation to protect the rights of these people is likely to be announced by March. “We have sent some members of the (NSHR) board to meet with experts on HIV cases to gather their opinions and observations on the new law,” Mufleh Al-Kahtani, NSHR’s vice president, told Arab News.
The NSHR proposed the national law to protect HIV-positive persons because currently there are no laws in the Kingdom that define the rights of these patients according to Islamic law and international conventions. Report Unfair Treatment, NSHR Tells HIV Carriers >>> By Raid Qusti
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
Monday, November 19, 2007
ARAB NEWS: JEDDAH, 19 November 2007 — The lawyer representing a Saudi rape victim in Qatif has criticized the second ruling issued by the Kingdom’s Higher Court of Justice doubling the woman’s punishment to 200 lashes and six months in jail, saying that the ruling “sums up the major problems that the Saudi judiciary faces.”
Abdul Rahman Al-Lahem, 36, also criticized the General Court in Qatif for confiscating his license to practice law. On Wednesday the Qatif General Court announced the Higher Court of Justice’s verdict. Al-Lahem had previously asked the Ministry of Justice and the Human Rights Commission to review the first ruling issued by the General Court in Qatif, which had ordered the rape victim be given 90 lashes.
“Basic Islamic law states that an appeal shall not harm the person appealing,” said Al-Lahem, adding that lodging an appeal is the right of anyone accused of a crime and something crucial for a just trial. “Once this rule is ignored, then people who appeal verdicts are only left terrorized. From now on people will be apprehensive to appeal fearing they might be punished or have their sentences doubled. That’s exactly what’s happened to the rape victim, who only wanted justice,” he said. Rape Victim’s Lawyer Refuses to Give In (more) By Ebtihal Mubarak
Mark Alexander
Friday, November 16, 2007
BBC: A lawyer for a gang-rape victim in Saudi Arabia who was sentenced to 200 lashes and six-months in jail says the punishment contravenes Islamic law.
The woman was initially punished for violating laws on segregation of the sexes - she was in an unrelated man's car at the time of the attack.
When she appealed, judges doubled her sentence, saying she had been trying to use the media to influence them.
Her lawyer has been suspended from the case and faces a disciplinary session.
Abdel Rahman al-Lahem told the BBC Arabic Service that the sentence was in violation of Islamic law:
"My client is the victim of this abhorrent crime. I believe her sentence contravenes the Islamic Sharia law and violates the pertinent international conventions," he said.
"The judicial bodies should have dealt with this girl as the victim rather than the culprit."
The lawyer also said that his client his will appeal against the decision to increase her punishment. Saudi gang rape sentence 'unjust' (more)
Mark Alexander
Friday, October 05, 2007
BBC: Saudi Arabia has announced an overhaul of its judicial system, including the allocation of $2bn (£981m) for training judges and building new courts.
The reforms, by royal decree, will lead to the creation of a supreme court, an appeals court and new general courts to replace the Supreme Judicial Council.
Reformers have welcomed the measures, which they say will improve human rights and help modernise the country.
They complain that the current judicial system is often opaque and arbitrary.
Until now, Saudi judges have had wide discretion to issue rulings according to their own interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.
The judiciary has also long resisted the codification of laws or the reliance on precedent when making a ruling.
Defendants also do not have recourse to appeal and often have no right to proper legal representation.
Unchecked powers
The new reforms announced by King Abdullah are aimed at addressing some of these perceived failings and at introducing safeguards such as appeal courts that can overturn decisions by lower courts, the BBC's Heba Saleh says. Saudis to overhaul legal system (more)
Mark Alexander
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
BBC: A group of women in Saudi Arabia is for the first time to lobby the kingdom's government for the right to drive cars.
Members of the Committee of Demanders of Women's Right to Drive Cars plan to deliver a petition to King Abdullah by Sunday, Saudi Arabia's National Day.
Correspondents say the demand is likely to be rejected, as conservatives argue if women are allowed to drive, they will be able to mix freely with men. Saudi women challenge driving ban »
Mark Alexander
Monday, August 27, 2007
FINANCIAL TIMES: Saudi Arabia has begun setting up a 35,000-strong security force to protect its oil infrastructure from potential attacks.
The move underlines the kingdom’s growing concern about its oil installations after threats from al-Qaeda to attack facilities in the Gulf, as well as rising tensions between Iran and the US.
The force already numbers about 5,000 personnel, a Saudi adviser said on Sunday. They are being trained in the use of new surveillance equipment, countermeasures and crisis management under a programme managed by US defence group Lockheed Martin, according to the Middle East Economic Survey in Nicosia.
The recruits are learning about laser security and satellite imaging from Lockheed on behalf of the Sandia National Laboratories’ Defense Systems and Assessments Unit – a US government run unit in New Mexico, said MEES.
Lockheed said it did not have information on the initiative.
The kingdom, which is the world’s biggest oil exporter and has 25 per cent of the world’s proven oil reserves, is investing an estimated $4bn-$5bn in the new equipment and the force.
The force is expected to reach 35,000 within two or three years.
Saudi Arabia has a 75,000-strong army, an air force of 18,000, a navy of 15,500 and an air defence force of 16,000. Its oil installations are protected from within by 5,000 agents employed by Aramco, the state oil company. It has more than 80 oil and gas fields and an estimated 11,000 miles of pipeline. Saudis set up force to guard oil plants (more) By Andrew England in Cairo
Mark Alexander
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
KUWAIT TIMES: COLOMBO: The parents of a Sri Lankan maid sentenced to be beheaded in Saudi Arabia after a baby died in her care will travel to the kingdom later this week to plea for clemency to the boy's parents, a Sri Lankan official said yesterday. A Saudi court sentenced Rizana Nafeek, 19, to death last month and gave her until yesterday to appeal the sentence. Human rights activists have said the boy's death appeared to be an accident.
The Sri Lankan Embassy has already filed an appeal on Nafeek's behalf, said Hussein Bhaila, Sri Lanka's deputy foreign minister, but was also hoping that a delegation that includes Nafeek's parents would help save her from execution. The group, which is to include Bhaila and other officials as well, was to leave yesterday, but had not received visas. Bhaila met the Saudi Arabian ambassador yesterday afternoon and was told there will be "no problem" getting the visas in time for their trip, which was rescheduled for Friday, he said. "We intend to meet religious leaders and higher officials and persuade the (boy's) parents to grant clemency to Nafeek," Bhaila said. Parents of death row maid to plea for teen (more)
Mark Alexander
Monday, June 25, 2007
KUWAIT TIMES: RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is planning to encourage Saudi women to work as housekeepers after some Asian countries raised minimum wage requirements for maids hired for work in the Gulf Arab country, a Saudi newspaper said yesterday. Al-Hayat daily quoted officials saying the labor and social affairs ministries were working on finding "Saudi housekeepers" - a euphemism to avoid the usual Arabic word "khadima", or servant - to help Saudi families needing domestic help. Saudis to work as maids (more)
Mark Alexander
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
GENEVA (Reuters) - Removing salt from sea water to overcome a worldwide shortage of drinking water could end up worsening the crisis, environmental group WWF warned on Tuesday.
Desalination, the filtering and evaporation of sea water, is very energy-intensive and involves significant emissions of greenhouse gases that scientists say are a factor in the shrinking supplies of freshwater, the Swiss-based group said.
Spain, Saudi Arabia, Australia and other arid countries should rely more on water conservation and recycling and avoid huge desalination projects that have been linked to pollution and ecosystem damage. WWF says desalination no answer to water crisis (more)
Mark Alexander
Monday, June 04, 2007
BBC: Five members of the Saudi religious police, the Mutawaeen, have been arrested accused of being responsible for the death of a man in custody.
The man died at a Mutawaeen office in Tabuk, the Saudi authorities say.
Officials said the man had been questioned for allegedly associating with a woman who was not a relative. Saudis hold five religious police (more)
Mark Alexander
Sunday, May 27, 2007
KUWAIT TIMES: RIYADH: Police in the Saudi capital Riyadh are probing the alleged beating to death of a man by religious police, who are in charge of enforcing a strict Islamic moral code, a newspaper reported yesterday. An investigation is under way into the circumstances of the death of Salman Al-Huraisi, 28, in one of the offices of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, Riyadh police spokesman Major Sami Al-Shuwairekh told Al-Watan. Huraisi's brother, Ali, said Salman was badly beaten by members of the religious police, commonly known as Mutawwa, when they raided the family's home in Riyadh on Wednesday night. Mutawwa probed for alleged fatal beating (more)
Mark Alexander
Sunday, May 20, 2007
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