This year’s cultural festival in Abha will have to do without concerts, Arab News reports. The article blames ‘extremists’ for pressuring the organizers to abandon musical performances, at least in a concert venue. There will be an ‘operetta’ based on traditional music however.
No concerts at Abha festival: Prince Faisal ibn Khaled
Hayat Al-Ghamdi | Arab NewsABHA: Asir Gov. Prince Faisal ibn Khaled announced yesterday that no musical concerts would be held as part of this year’s Abha Tourism Festival or those in the coming years. Addressing a news conference here, he denied suggestions that concerts would be one of the festival’s important events. However, he said an operetta composed of national songs and traditional dances would be held during the festival that draws a number of tourists from different parts of the Kingdom and neighboring Gulf countries.
The ban on concerts comes as a result of strong opposition from extremists. Concerts held as part of the Abha Festival in the past attracted a large number of people. Prominent Saudi and Gulf singers such as Muhammad Abdu, Khaled Abdul Rahman, Hussein Al-Jasmi, Rashid Al-Majed, Rashid Al-Faris and Nabeel Shuail have taken part in the concerts.
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June:21:2009 - 14:36
Hayat has been sued by the judge in the story about the judge who said it’s OK to hit women who spend too much money. He filed a tash’hir (publicizing) suit against Ms. Hayat. She’s not too worried because he made his comment publicly and she has witnesses. But what’s scary is the judge’s intentions. He filed his lawsuit against the reporter in a local court — a local judge files a defamation suit against a reporter in his own jurisdiction, meaning that someone he knows and works with would be the judge in the case.
This is contrary to proper procedure: all media related defamation cases must go through the Ministry of Information.
There’s another important difference: filing in a local court instead of the ministry means a guilty verdict against Ms. Hayat that could result in prison time and lashes. A ministry’s ruling would mean a fine and the reporter being banned from writing.
If anyone is under the illusion that the hardliners in Saudi are on the wane, this story should sober you up. This whole Prince Naif thing should help with that sobering process. Also: What’s going on in Iran will probably dive the Saudis away from even pretending to have democratic institutions. They’ve already postponed women voting in municipal councils (where half of the members are elected currently by adult men) for the next cycle.