Saudi Religious Police Make Gloveless Woman Leave Shopping Mall

Saudi's Ultra-strict Religious Police Join Twitter – Despite JAILING Others for Using Site

The religious police have more than 65,000 followers

DAILY EXPRESS: SAUDI Arabia's religious police have joined Twitter, despite jailing others for using the site.

The notorious group, tasked with enforcing sharia law in the country, have already racked up more than 65,000 followers.

Their first tweet asked "Allah to benefit everyone" and was retweeted 20,000 times.

In 2014 they closed over 10,000 Twitter accounts because "users were committing religious and ethical violations".

A spokesman claimed that IT-related crimes could see people jailed for five years and fined £500,000.

In 2013 the head of the police claimed that anyone using social media "has lost this world and the afterlife".

Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh has also blasted the site as "a source of lies and falsehood". » | Tom Parfitt | Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Return of the Religious Police Worries Reformers in Saudi Arabia

Saudi women shopping in Riyadh

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: As King Salman takes command, Saudi Arabia's creeping reforms appear to reverse

The violation of modesty might seem technical, but this was Saudi Arabia, and the religious police were having none of it.

They swept through Riyadh's Marina Mall, going through shops with names like "Princesses' Island" and "My Scarf" which specialise in abayas, the all-enveloping, shapeless gown that Saudi women must by law wear in public, and tore down any that weren't black.

Black is the colour stipulated for abayas, but as Saudi society has become more cosmopolitan, women have begun to experiment.

First dark patterns emerged, then a few diamante adornments, then the occasional striped sleeve; finally - the step the religious police thought was taking it too far - abayas of whole different colours, like brown, and dark blue.

The cloaks still hid every vestige of a woman's anatomy: only not in the same monotone.

"It was very annoying," said one shop assistant, who requested that he not be identified to prevent further raids. "They did cause a big problem. However, it is the law I suppose, so we just have to put up with it."

The attack on the Mall was not, women's rights and other activists say, a one-off. It happened shortly after the death of 90-year-old King Abdullah at the end of January, and may have been a sign that the once-feared religious police which he spent years trying to rein in felt they were now in the ascendant again. » | Richard Spencer, Riyadh | Thursday, February 19, 2015

Saudi Men Arrested for Offering Free Hugs in Riyadh

BBC: Two men have been arrested in Saudi Arabia for offering free hugs to passers-by in the capital, Riyadh.

The Saudi religious police detained the two young men for indulging in exotic practices and offending public order.

The free hugs movement aims to "brighten up" people's lives by offering strangers hugs.

A young Saudi man, Bandr al-Swed, posted a video of himself offering hugs to male strangers on YouTube, where it has received nearly 1.5m views.

"After seeing the Free Hugs Campaign in many different countries, I decided to do it in my own country," Mr Swed told al-Arabiya news [sic].

"I liked the idea and thought it could bring happiness to Saudi Arabia."

Britain's Independent newspaper reports that his video inspired two more young Saudis, Abdulrahman al-Khayyal and a friend.

They offered hugs, advertised on a placard, in one of Riyadh's main shopping streets. » | Thursday, November 21, 2013

Saudi Journalist and TV Host Nadin Al-Badir Calls the Saudi Religious Police the "Enemy of Society" and Says: Most of Them Are Ex-Cons Who are "Violently Extreme"

Saudi Religious Policeman Lashed for Having Six Wives
BBC: A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a man to 120 lashes for having six wives at the same time.

Muslim men can keep up to four wives at a time under sharia, or Islamic law, which is applied in Saudi Arabia.

Reports say the unnamed man worked for the country's religious police. At his trial, the defendant claimed he did not know he was breaking the law.

The man was also banned from leading prayers and ordered to read two chapters of the Koran.

Islam permits polygamy for men on condition that wives are treated equally.

The case was tried in a court in the southern province of Jizan. >>> | Thursday, February 18, 2010

Elderly Saudi [Syrian? – see below] Woman Sentenced to Lashings
UPI: RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- A 75-year-old Saudi Arabian woman has been sentenced to receive 40 lashes for hosting two unrelated men in her house, local media reported.

The Saudi daily newspaper al-Watan said the woman, Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, has appealed her sentence after being charged with offenses against Islam by the religious police, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, CNN reported Monday.

Sawadi says the two men in her house were a man she considers her son because she breast-fed him as a baby and a friend who was escorting him as he delivered bread to the elderly woman.

"It's made everybody angry because this is like a grandmother," Saudi women's rights activist Wajeha Huwaider told CNN. "Forty lashes -- how can she handle that pain? You cannot justify it."

The U.S. broadcaster reported that Saudi religious police last week also detained two male novelists for questioning after they approached a female writer, Halima Muzfar, for an autograph at a book fair in Riyadh. [Source: UPI] Monday, March 9, 2009

CNN: Saudis Order 40 Lashes for Elderly Woman for Mingling

A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced a 75-year-old Syrian woman to 40 lashes, four months imprisonment and deportation from the kingdom for having two unrelated men in her house, according to local media reports.

According to the Saudi daily newspaper Al-Watan, troubles for the woman, Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, began last year when a member of the religious police entered her house in the city of Al-Chamli and found her with two unrelated men, "Fahd" and "Hadian."

Fahd told the policeman that he had the right to be there, because Sawadi had breast-fed him as a baby and was therefore considered to be a son to her in Islam, according to Al-Watan. Fahd, 24, added that his friend Hadian was escorting him as he delivered bread for the elderly woman. The policeman then arrested both men.

Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam called Wahhabism and punishes unrelated men and women who are caught mingling.

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, feared by many Saudis, is made up of several thousand religious policemen charged with duties such as enforcing dress codes, prayer times and segregation of the sexes. Under Saudi law, women face many restrictions, including a strict dress code and a ban on driving. Women also need to have a man's permission to travel.

Al Watan obtained the court's verdict and reported that it was partly based on the testimony of the religious police. In his ruling, the judge said it had been proved that Fahd is not the Sawadi's son through breastfeeding.

The court also doled out punishment to the two men. Fahd was sentenced to four months in prison and 40 lashes; Hadian was sentenced to six months in prison and 60 lashes. In a phone call with Al Watan, the judge declined to comment and suggested the newspaper review the case with the Ministry of Justice.

Sawadi told the newspaper that she will appeal, adding that Fahd is indeed her son through breastfeeding.

The case has sparked anger in Saudi Arabia. >>> By Mohammed Jamjoom and Saad Abedine | Monday, March 9, 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: Saudi Court Sentences Widow, 75, to Lashes for 'Mingling with Men'

A 75-year-old widow has been sentenced to 40 lashes and four months in prison in Saudi Arabia for mingling with two young men who were reportedly bringing her bread.

The sentence has sparked new criticism of Saudi Arabia's ultraconservative religious police and judiciary.

Khamisa Sawadi, a Syrian-born woman who was married to a Saudi, was convicted and sentenced last week for meeting with men who were not her immediate relatives. Saudi law prohibits men and women who are not immediate relatives from mingling.

The two men, including one who was Mrs Sawadi's late husband's nephew, were also found guilty and sentenced to prison terms and lashes.

The elderly woman met the two 24-year-old men last April after she asked them to bring her five loaves of bread, the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan reported.

The men - identified by Al-Watan as the nephew, Fahd al-Anzi, and his friend and business partner Hadiyan bin Zein - went to Mrs Sawadi's home in the city of al-Chamil, north of the Saudi capital, Riyadh. After delivering the bread, the two men were arrested by a one of the religious police, Al-Watan reported.

The court said it based its March 3 ruling on "citizen information" and testimony from Mr Anzi's father, who accused Mrs Sawadi of corruption.

"Because she said she doesn't have a husband and because she is not a Saudi, conviction of the defendants of illegal mingling has been confirmed," the court verdict read. >>> Telegraph’s Foreign Staff and Agencies, Riyadh | Tuesday, March 10, 2009

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Religious Police Break Hearts in Saudi Arabia
Happy Valentine’s Day to one and all, including the religious police in Saudi Arabia, the so-called Muttawa or Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice!
ASSOCIATED PRESS: RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Just days before Valentine's Day, a young Saudi woman desperately searched for a red teddy bear to buy for her boyfriend. But all Nof Faisal could find were blue and white ones, minus the "I love you" she wanted hers to declare.

It's not because the store couldn't keep up with demand. It is because fear of the religious police forced the store's owner to strip the shelves of all red items, including the hottest-selling item: heart-festooned red plastic handcuffs inscribed, "Take me, I'm yours."

As Feb. 14 approaches, the police begin inspecting gift shops for items that are red or are intended as gifts to mark the holiday — a celebration of St. Valentine, a 3rd century Christian martyr — which is banned in Saudi Arabia. Such items are legal at other times of the year, but as Valentine's Day nears they become contraband.

At best, shops caught selling Valentine's gifts are ordered to get rid of them. Some salesmen have been detained for days.

The Valentine's Day prohibition is in line with the ascetic Wahhabi school of Islam that the kingdom follows. Marking Christian holidays is banned in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and a country where non-Muslims are banned from openly practicing their religion.

Celebrating any holidays but the two most important for Muslims — Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr_ is taboo because they are considered "religious innovations" that Islam does not sanction. Even birthdays and Mother's Day are frowned on by the religious establishment.

As Feb. 14 approaches, newspapers reprint a fatwa or religious edict issued by scholars a few years ago, declaring "eid al-hob," Arabic for the feast of love, a "Christian, pagan feast" that Muslims should not celebrate. Teachers remind students they must not mark the festival, and girls are warned against wearing anything red. >>> AP | Friday, February 13, 2009

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Saint Valentin: distribution gratuite de "sex toys" à Paris

INSOLITE | Célibataires, jeunes couples, groupes de promeneurs: une distribution gratuite de "sex toys" organisée samedi dans le centre de Paris pour la Saint Valentin, a suscité une vive curiosité, quelques sourires gênés et beaucoup de rires.

"J'ai eu un vibromasseur et des boules de geisha" raconte, ravie, Leila, étudiante de 21 ans. "Je suis super contente. Je suis célibataire, ça me console... Et puis ça coûte super cher ces petits trucs en plastique !" >>> AFP | Samedi 14 Février 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>

Of Fatwas and Infidels
ARAB VIEW: The Shoura Council last week defeated a proposal to adopt a law promoting respect for other religions and religious symbols. The proposal that would have had the blessings of the Arab League was opposed by 77 members and supported by 33.

In his reason for voting against the proposal, one member told Al-Watan newspaper that the negative effects might outweigh the positive ones as it would give legality to nonmonotheistic religions and consequently it would allow the building of houses of worship for those religions in Muslim countries.

The proposal was surely influenced by the Danish cartoon crisis that recently resurfaced. If we look at the consequences of approving such a proposal, we will see that it would have been an important step forward. It simply proposes respect for other religions and tolerance for those who practice them. The proposal suggests simply that people in the world need to learn to live together and to accept each other for what they are and that people must also remember that respect and tolerance work both ways. Of Fatwas and Infidels >>> By Abeer Mishkhas

Also by Abeer Mishkhas:
How Could Such Things Happen in Saudi Arabia?

And:
Commission [The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice] Waging a Battle for Territory

Mark Alexander

Saudi University Professor Sentenced to 180 Lashes and Eight Months in Prison for Being in a State of Khulwa with an Unrelated Woman
Photo courtesy of Reuters and The Times
TIMESONLINE: A university professor allegedly caught in a Saudi-style honey trap has been sentenced to 180 lashes and eight months in jail – for having coffee with a girl.

The man, a prominent and well-respected Saudi teacher of psychology at Umm al-Qra University in the holy city of Mecca, was framed by the religious police after he angered some of their members at a training course, his lawyer said.

The academic has not been named by the local media, which have given his case wide coverage, but one senior Saudi journalist told The Times he was Dr Abu Ruzaiz, a married man in his late 50s with children.

“He is highly respected and above-board. Nobody believes the religious police’s version of what happened. The whole of Jeddah (the main city near Mecca) is in uproar about this. Everyone believes he is innocent and was set up,” the journalist said.

Contact between unrelated men and women is strictly prohibited in the austere desert Kingdom where religious police, commonly known as mutaween, patrol public places in teams to enforce the Kingdom’s brand of ultra-conservative Islam.

Usually bearded and often wielding canes, they ensure women are not harassed, sexes do not mix and shops close for prayers. They are under the command of the Kingdom’s Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

Abdullah Al-Sanousi, the academic’s lawyer, told local newspapers that his client had drawn the ire of some of the Commission’s staffers for speaking at length during a training session about how important it was for them to be polite to the public. Some of the trainees also wanted revenge because they had failed the course while others were not happy with their examination results.

Mr Ruzaiz is said to have received a call from a girl purporting to be one of his students who asked to meet to discuss a problem that she did not want to talk about over the phone. The professor agreed to meet at a family café provided she brought along her brother as a chaperone.

When he arrived, he was surprised to find the girl alone, and was promptly surrounded by religious policemen who handcuffed him and hauled him into custody. He was accused of being in a state of khulwa – seclusion – with an unrelated woman. Saudi professor faces lashes for having coffee with female 'student': Psychology academic says he was framed by religious police who had grudge against him >>> By Michael Theodoulou

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Saudi Men Arrested for ‘Flirting’
BBC: Prosecutors in Saudi Arabia have begun investigating 57 young men who were arrested on Thursday for flirting with girls at shopping centres in Mecca.

The men are accused of wearing indecent clothes, playing loud music and dancing in order to attract the attention of girls, the Saudi Gazette reported.

They were arrested following a request of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

The mutaween enforce Saudi Arabia's conservative brand of Islam, Wahhabism. Saudi men arrested for 'flirting' >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Saudi Arabia: The Horrors of Life Under the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice
ARAB NEWS: It has unfortunately become a regular headline in our newspapers. We learn of people beaten up by members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice — for short, the commission. The details of the beatings and the reasons for them can be dealt with later but the outstanding fact that strikes us is that people were assaulted with a severity that lands them in hospitals and, in two reported cases, killed those who were assaulted.

The latest of these reports concerns a boy from Najran who was attacked by the commission. Allegedly — and I am quoting from the newspaper report, the boy “confronted the men over a violation supposedly committed by his brother.” In other words, he was not the target; he was simply defending his brother. According to the boy, four members of the commission “insulted him and banged his head against a car until he became unconscious.” Denial Is No Defence >>> By Abeer Mishkhas

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Shockingly, Disgustingly, Immorally Revealing!
THE GUARDIAN: Religious police in Malaysia have detained a Muslim singer and her band, accusing her of baring too much flesh during a recent performance at a nightclub.

Siti Noor Idayu Abd Moin's sleeveless white top exposed a triangle of skin on her back, prompting officials to charge her with "revealing her body" and "promoting vice".

The artist, who plans to contest the allegations, was released on £145 bail and ordered to appear before the sharia court in the northern town of Ipoh early next month. But Noor Idayu, 24, was bemused by the charge that her top was too skimpy and said it was a style she would feel comfortable wearing in public during the day. Malaysian band detained after singer's top reveals bare skin (more) By IanMacKinnon

Mark Alexander

Trial for Mutawwa Has Begun
KUWAIT TIMES: RIYADH: Four men, including three members of Saudi Arabia's religious police, went on trial yesterday for their alleged involvement in the death of a man in detention - an unprecedented case against a powerful force long resented for intimidating people. The religious police enforce the kingdom's strict Islamic lifestyle, patrolling public places to ensure women are covered, the sexes don't mingle, shops close five times a day for Muslim prayers and men go to the mosque and worship.

The man's family is demanding the death penalty for those found guilty of the death their relative, Ahmed Al-Bulaiwi, a retired border patrol guard in his early 50s. Al-Bulaiwi died in custody shortly after his June 1 arrest for being alone with a woman who was not a relative - an act considered an offense in the kingdom. Audah Al-Bulaiwi, who is representing the family in court, said three judges presided over the first hearing in the case in the northern city of Tabuk. He said the defendants - three members of the religious police and a fourth believed to be from the regular police - were present in the courtroom. Trial against Mutawwa opens in Saudi Arabia (more)

Saudi Arabia: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

Mark Alexander