Saudi Gazette/Okaz runs this interesting little tidbit. Even in Saudi Arabia, women do not have an absolute right to wear a veil (niqab) in all situations. A judge, the article states, can require a woman to expose her face in order that her identity be proved. There have been many reports of identity theft, where males bring in a veiled woman and swear to her identity, but in the end the woman was someone other than who she was claimed to be.
Veiled women to be identified in court cases, says official
Hazim Al-MutairiRIYADH – To prevent identity theft, judges have now the right to verify the identity of women inside the courtroom before processing verdicts, which may require women to unveil their faces before the judge, a senior judicial official said.
“There is no Shariah objection to that,” said Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Haqeel, chairman of the Court of Grievances.
The move is to curb identity theft where veiled women may pose as false witnesses. Many courts have seen men falsely presenting veiled women as their wives or daughters, especially in inheritance cases.
…
Getting women into the Saudi workplace is only half the battle. This article from Saudi Gazette notes that even after women get into jobs, social attitudes based on the prevailing culture can get in their way of progressing and being promoted. Or even being permitted to do the jobs for which they were hired.
‘Excuse me mister
Amber ShahidWould you work for a female boss?’
Aalia told Saudi Gazette that she has eight men working under her, and two of them have used “aggressive resistance” techniques in the past to sabotage her or avoid taking orders from her.
‘Do women make better bosses?” is an echoing question in many minds as the gender-segregated society in the Kingdom sees a slight relaxation of the rule in the workplace. Meanwhile, women have pulled up their socks for the rat race to prove themselves; of the many obstacles they have to face is the age-old question: are men ready for female bosses?
Recently, an online newspaper in the Kingdom carried the story of a female Saudi journalist who alleged that her promotion had been frozen after the threat of multiple resignations by her male colleagues.
Aliuddin (full name withheld on request), is working in a managerial post at a private firm which has a mixed gender working atmosphere, and he told Saudi Gazette that four women are in managerial positions as well. He believes that most female bosses pursue a policy of aggressiveness to become an effective boss.
“The real problem is not whether a woman or a man is boss but the roles in which society sees these two genders. Saudi society is not used to seeing women working in the office because of its (culture of) strict segregation. However, now we have some flexibility in this strictness,” Aliuddin said. “The real issue is how effective one is as a boss.”
…
Over the weekend, the Saud government floated a trial balloon about female attorneys’ working in the courts. Now, it is assessing how much flak that balloon is attracting. Arab News reports that not everyone is happy with the legal move. Female attorneys, however, are hopeful.
Cautious reactions over women lawyers in courts
RIMA AL-MUKHTAR | ARAB NEWSJEDDAH: There are mixed opinions after the minister of justice indicated Saudi women lawyers could be allowed in courts for the first time.
Mohammed Al-Eissa told reporters on Saturday that his ministry would allow women lawyers to argue family cases including those involving divorce and child custody, subject to the implementation of a new bill.
They would also be allowed to complete certain procedures without a witness.
The bill will be issued in the coming days as part of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah’s plan to develop the justice system.
“In accordance with the new law, women will be able to complete their preliminary procedures by just presenting their IDs,” Ministry of Justice official Osama Al-Mirdas told Arab News.
Currently, women lawyers practice their jobs in two different ways. They could meet with their clients before preparing the case and handing it over to a male colleague to take to court. The alternative is for the lawyer to become the client’s legal guardian and argue the case that way. Lawyers need three years of practice before they are given a license.
…
Here’s a story whose importance I initially missed. It was reported in the Saudi media as early as Feb. 11, with more coming on the 16th. Now, it is an international story.
A large Saudi company—as yet to be named—involved in petrochemical production and a contractor for ARAMCO, is alleged to have been shipping huge quantities of subsidized Saudi oil to various European countries, without license to do so. Several other companies seem to be involved as well. They have been doing so for eleven years. The moving finger of blame is rotating, but looks to be coming to rest at Customs.
Not only is the alleged crime against the Saudi treasury, it also unjustly enriches individuals at the expense of all Saudis. Worse, in my view, is that it shows a gaping hole in the country’s ability to even monitor, never mind control, large amounts of money transfers. Perhaps this example is only of human greed. What, though, is to stop these illegal shipments or the cash they produce being channeled to terroristic operations? The story also supports the need for Saudi Arabia to get serious on the issue of corruption. It’s possible that the company succeeded wildly in pulling the wool over the eyes of Customs inspectors; it’s equally possible that they payed for a certain degree of blindness.
‘Middle East Online’ provides this summary report:
Saudi oil smuggled to Europe for 11 years
Habib Trabelsi – PARISReports in Saudi Arabia unveiled this week oil-smuggling operations from the King Fahd Industrial Port in Yanbu to France and other European countries that have been happening for more than eleven years.
In the absence of a statement of clarification from the Kingdom’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, accounts vary between smuggling using “used oil barrels” and direct smuggling through huge pipelines connected to the smuggling company’s storage reservoirs. The company is reportedly one of Saudi Armco’s contracting partners.
“Barrels” or “Pipelines”?
“Okaz” was the first newspaper that reported the news last week, quoting “informed sources” who said that the Saudi Administrative Investigation Department “uncovered smuggling operations after tracking the company’s commercial traffic, where oil shipments would depart from King Fahd Industrial Port in Yanbu in preparation for transfer to France and other European countries.”
According to these sources, the smugglers used a trick that is to “ship oil in barrels” by claiming that they contain used vehicle fuel, which is usually exported to foreign companies to refine it in various industrial fields.
The newspaper added that a committee of the Administrative Investigation Department and the Ministry of Petroleum proved the involvement of the company’s owner and ten other employees working in different companies in the petrochemical sector in the smuggling operations.
…
Saudi Gazette/Okaz now run a story suggesting that a fall out between partners led to the exposure of the criminal scheme:
The papers also note to the lack of identification of both the company and the individuals involved.
Arab News reports on the efforts of a group of Muslims in the Washington, DC area to bring environmental awareness to the local community.
DC Green Muslims and local groups partner
to protect the environment
M. SCOTT BORTOTWASHINGTON : A recent series of record-breaking snowfalls in Washington, DC, has sparked debate among global warming pundits — both its supporters and detractors — as to the extent of humanity’s impact on the environment.
While the pundits debate, eco-conscious DC-area Muslims are promoting a message of environmental stewardship to both Muslims and non-Muslims in their community.
As it turns out, a strong connection exists between Islam and protecting the Earth.
DC Green Muslims was born in October 2007 when a group of friends gathered for a vegetarian, eco-friendly iftar. In the following months, the group held more eco-friendly meals attracting up to 150-people. Today, the group, which has a blog at http://dcgreenmuslims.blogspot.com/, is an active member of Washington’s environmental awareness community.
But what is a green Muslim?
… Whether Washington, DC, based Muslim Americans are defending the earth through prayer and fasting, authoring pioneering environmental awareness books or beautifying local parks, a common thread binds them all.
“At the core our religion tells us that God has given us such a great natural resource and it is our job to protect and maintain it,” Strom of DC Green Muslims said.
…
The Saudi Ministry of Health is launching an awareness campaign about Diabetes. According to their latest count, 14% of the Saudi population suffers from the disease. The Ministry suggests that poor nutrition, obesity, and lack of exercise are the primary causes. As the culture strongly militates against things like sports for women, that’s one change that could be made relatively easily. Educating people about healthy diets would help, too, though with sketchier results.
I’m a bit surprised that the Ministry found only 1% of Diabetes cases to involve children under 14. It’s possible that adult-onset Diabetes is by far the greater problem, but 1% strikes me as very low.
14 percent Saudi population is diabetic
Abdulmohsen Al-HarthiRIYADH – A national awareness campaign is being launched to create awareness about diabetes in the wake of statistics showing that 14.1 percent of the Kingdom’s population is diabetic.
The Preventive Medicine Agency at the Ministry of Health in Riyadh is launching the two-day awareness campaign.
Muhammad Sa’eedi, Director General of Non-epidemic Diseases, said the campaign will highlight complications and preventive measures. Messages will be delivered by endocrinologists under the motto “Yes to health and life and no to diabetes”.
…
The Saudi Ministry of Justice is promulgating a new law to permit female attorneys to appear in Saudi courts. This being Saudi Arabia, the step is only a half-step: women will be limited in the types of cases they can argue. Notably, criminal cases are excluded.
Still, half-measures are better than none. The trick will be to get Saudi judges to accept them. Already, some judges don’t see the need or desirability of any attorney in court. I suspect it will take the reprimand (and removal) of some judges to get the message through.
New law will end male dominance in Saudi courts
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s justice minister says his department is drafting a law that would allow female lawyers to argue legal cases in court for the first time.
Mohammed Al-Eissa told reporters on Saturday the bill will be issued in the coming days as part of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah’s “plan to develop the justice system.” The law would mark a major step for female lawyers in the Kingdom. Currently, women law graduates can work in government offices and in court offices, but cannot argue cases before court.
Under the new law, women would be allowed to argue cases on child custody, divorce and other family-related issues.
… He said women would be able to complete judicial procedures for registration of properties, housing plans, merging of real estate properties of different persons or classification of property ownership, by just presenting their IDs. “They can also use IDs for mortgaging real estate at nongovernmental funds and for authorizing corporate contracts, sponsorship and gifts.” Al-Mirdas said the new regulations were planned in order to facilitate judicial procedures and break the routine barriers that obstruct women from approaching notaries. “Non-Saudis also need not bring any friends or relatives as witnesses for the endorsement of power of attorney and they can get the work done by just showing their IDs,” he said. However, non-Saudi women should bring at least one person — a close relative — as a witness, along with her ID.
…
Saudi Gazette/Okaz cover the story as well, adding that a new law requiring ‘reconciliation’ efforts be made in civil cases before they get to the courts. This is intended to lighten the case load on the courts by getting minor issues resolved without having to take up the judges’ time.
In a separate article, Saudi Gazette/Okaz cite a senior Saudi judge who states that women already have the right to appear before the Board of Grievances. This doesn’t directly address whether the women may be represented by female attorneys, however. This piece also reports that official note is being taken of unnecessary delays in court procedures and that judges will be punished for allowing cases to drag out longer than they should. Too, there are proposed changes to the role of attorneys in the courts. The details on this are not clear to me.
No ban on women appearing in court, asserts senior judge
RIYADH – Women are not being prevented from appearing before judges at the Board of Grievances, according to a senior judicial official.
Hazim Al-MuttairiSheikh Ibrahim Bin Shayea Al-Huqail, President of the Board of Grievances, said that women are allowed to appear before judges, whether they are plaintiffs or defendants.
He made these comments while addressing a workshop on strategic planning in Riyadh on Saturday.
The only problem facing judges at the moment is ensuring that the woman appearing can be identified properly. He said this can be solved by employing women at court to confirm identities.
…
Arab News has a good piece discussing the near-term future for oil production (and thus, pricing). It points to the declining demand for oil, due currently to a global economic decline, but also to a move toward substitutes. It also notes that ‘discipline’ by OPEC members in sticking to their production quotas is declining. That means that more oil is being put on the market through the back door, pushing prices down. Interesting.
Tug of war between producers and consumers on the cards
SYED RASHID HUSAIN | ARAB NEWSUS Energy Secretary Steven Chu is coming to Riyadh. Interestingly, the visit of the US’s top energy diplomat is taking place at a time, when the next OPEC ministerial meeting is only three weeks away. Is it pure coincidence? Analysts are hinting at a different direction. Prior to major OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) moves, a visit from the top US energy diplomat is not something out of the blue. It has happened a number of times before.
The OPEC oil ministers are scheduled to meet in Vienna on March 17 to review market conditions and consider whether to change output levels. The visit would provide Secretary Chu, known for advancing the green cause, a rare opportunity to relay in person the US position on the group’s production and also to ascertain the current thinking in OPEC corridors. Indeed some hint – and not without reason – he could demand to keep output at least at current levels. Definitely pressure is being exerted on the producers. This is the name of the game.
And this is despite the fact that even with demand surging in China and a protracted and widespread spell of cold weather across much of the Northern Hemisphere, the global crude outlook remains far from certain. We are today in an environment marked by little signs of underlying growth in OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) oil demand, coupled with Asian product surpluses also appearing and moving into the Atlantic Basin. And in the light of the prevailing indications, it is indeed difficult to see much support for higher oil prices, the London-based Centre for Global Energy Studies (CGES) said in its February Monthly Oil Report, to be released officially on Monday.
…
The Washington Post has this piece about how some Muslims—primarily immigrants—are turning to schooling their children at home rather than in public schools (to many cultural clashes, not enough religion) or private Islamic schools (too expensive). The article notes that in the US, home schooling has tended to be the refuge of families with strong Christian ties. Those interviewed for this piece, however, say that they are not looking to separate their children from society, but to instill Islamic values at an early age as well as to avoid frictions that come from ignorance of Islam. Interestingly, many appear to use home schooling for primary schooling, but then send to children to public high schools. Definitely worth reading.
Muslims turning to home schooling in increasing numbers
Tara BahrampourOn a chilly afternoon in western Loudoun County, a group of children used tweezers to extract rodent bones from a regurgitated owl pellet. A boy built a Lego launcher. A girl practiced her penmanship. On the wall, placards read, “I fast in Ramadan,” “I pay zakat” and “I will go on hajj.”
Welcome to Priscilla Martinez’s home — and her children’s school, where Martinez is teacher, principal and guidance counselor, and where the credo “Allah created everything” is taught alongside math, grammar and science.
Martinez and her six children, ages 2 to 12, are part of a growing number of Muslims who home-school. In the Washington area, Martinez says, she has seen the number of home-schoolers explode in the past five years.
…
Here’s an interesting—if somewhat florid—look at Britons who left the ideology of jihad. The piece, which also appeared in the UK’s Independent, argues that jihad provided an identity to those who, as the children of immigrants, had not clear sense of self. In passing, it notes that Saudi-provided literature was often at the base of their new identities. For many, however, reality crushed the idealism and they repudiated extremist renderings of Islam.
I’m not sure that the examples provided here offer much in the way of a comprehensive understanding of what motivates people toward extremism and terror, but it certainly seems to apply to those interviewed.
Meet the Ex-Jihadis
Johann HariEver since I started meeting jihadis, I have been struck by one thing – their Britishness. I am from the East End of London, and at some point in the past decade I became used to hearing a hoarse and angry whisper of jihadism on the streets where I live. Bearded young men stand outside the library calling for “The Rule of God” and “Death to Democracy”.
In the mosques across the city, I hear a fringe of young men talk dreamily of flocking to Afghanistan to “resist”. Yet this whisper never has an immigrant accent. It shares my pronunciations, my cultural references, and my national anthem. Beneath the beards and the burqas, there is an English voice.
The East End is a cramped grey maze of council estates, squashed between the glistening palaces of the City to one side and the glass towers of Docklands to the other. You can feel the financial elites staring across at each other, indifferent to this concrete lump of poverty dumped in-between by the forgotten tides of history. This place has always been the swirling first stop for immigrants to this country like my father – a place where new arrivals can huddle together as they adjust to the cold rain and lukewarm liberalism of Britain.
The Muslims who arrive here every day from Bangladesh, or India, or Somalia say they find the presence of British Islamists bizarre. They have come here to work and raise their children in stability and escape people like them. No: these Islamists are British-born. They make up 7 per cent of the British Muslim population, according to a Populous poll (with the other 93 percent of Muslims disagreeing). Ever since the 7/7 suicide bombings, carried out by young Englishmen against London, the British have been squinting at this minority of the minority and trying to figure out how we incubated a very English jihadism.
…
Saudi Gazette/Okaz run this piece taken from another Saudi newspaper but just which one isn’t apparent. The content, however, is good.
The writer laments that some Saudis have a sense of superiority over other nationalities, but that it is ill-advised and unsupported by the evidence. He doesn’t know whether it’s just innate racism or a need to feel good about oneself. Regardless of the cause, he notes, Saudi Arabia would not be what it is today without the work done by many different nationalities. Saudis, he suggests, might want to take it down a notch and develop a more realistic view of their place in the world.
VIEW FROM THE ARABIC PRESS
Hani NaqshabandiA FRIEND of mine invited me to lunch at his house recently, and after we had dined he left the room for a bit and came back visibly riled. “That ****** Indonesian!” he cursed.
“What Indonesian? What’s wrong?” I asked.
“The driver, curse those *** drivers!” he snarled, sitting back down beside me.
I wasn’t sure if he was upset with the driver because he was Indonesian, or with the Indonesian because he was a driver, but either way it seemed to present a problem: if it was because he was Indonesian then that would be racism, which is unacceptable, but if it was because he was a driver then where’s the dishonor in that?
People all over the world are racist in one way or another and I’ve seen and felt it myself, even in the advanced societies of the West, but in our case it seems, to an extent, to be in the extreme.
It is apparent in the slightest contact we have with others, in a motor accident, for example, or just any old argument. Even our ordinary conversations reflect the same malady, when we speak of such-and-such an Egyptian, or Pakistani, or Bangladeshi.
“These foreigners have wrecked the country”…”these foreigners have brought all sorts of problems”… “this humidity, this unhappiness, this storm…the foreigners are to blame!”
Are we trying to make ourselves feel special at the expense of others? I’m not sure. Perhaps we are somehow trying to convince ourselves that we’re the best of all Allah’s creations.
…
Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti has come out strongly condemning terrorism as ‘un-Islamic’, according to a release from the Saudi Press Agency, picked up by the Saudi media. The statement comes just prior to an anti-terrorism workshop which will be looking into terrorism funding and the nexus between crime and terrorism. Here’s Arab News‘s report:
Al-Asheikh calls for fighting terrorism
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s top religious authority on Friday denounced terrorism as un-Islamic and condemned the killing of civilians, saying such attacks have nothing to do with Islam.
“Terrorism is criminal and spills the blood of innocents,” said Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah Al-Asheikh, chairman of the Council of Senior Islamic Scholars.
“It attacks security, spreads terror among people and creates problems for society … Such acts are forbidden by Islamic law,” he said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency.
“It is necessary to fight the attempts of some to attach terrorism to Islam and Muslims with the goal of distorting the religion and assailing its leadership role in the world,” he added.
…
I’d only add that a statement like this would have been both welcomed and useful had it come some nine years ago.