Just a note to point you toward the editorial cartoons that have been running in Saudi Gazette. Over the past couple of months, they’ve been taking a sharp look at business, government, and bureaucracy in the Kingdom. They’re clever; they’re ascerbic. And they’re dead on target.
Today’s offering…
I’ll also agree that the behaviors tweaked in the cartoons are not solely Saudi. Any bureaucracy has the same foibles.
Following up on a story from last week about a woman who complained about being assaulted by members of the Medinah branch of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice…
Her claim had substance. Six members of the Ha’ia branch have been suspended at half-pay while they undergo a year’s training. The training will be extended across the entire Medinah network and inspections will be made of branch office operations. As long as Saudis seen a continuing need for morals police, they should at least ensure that they behave professionally and politely. Simply assuming that a woman is sinning/committing a crime ought not be enough to arrest her on sight, as was apparently the case here.
Hai’a staff in woman’s abuse case suspended
Khaled Al-Jabri | Okaz/Saudi GazetteMADINA – Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Humayen, General President of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (the Hai’a), has suspended the six Hai’a members accused of abusing a female citizen in Madina.
The Hai’a chief has also tasked a committee to conduct a performance review of all staff at the Hai’a centers in Madina.
The move comes after a woman was allegedly assaulted by Hai’a members who ripped her purse and abaya while she was traveling with her uncle in a taxi in Madina.
A source told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that the committee will ensure that all field members are up to the mark and are able to carry out the tasks assigned to them.
New Hai’a members will only be allowed into the field after one year of their appointment. They will also undergo an intensive training on their dealing with the general public.
The six Hai’a members will be on half salary until the case is thoroughly investigated.
I’ve long loathed Power Point presentations having had to sit through them for many years. They’re rarely done correctly and tend to stand in for good speaking skills. The US government bureaucracy drowns in them.
So, I’m not at all distressed to see that their use in mosques to deliver Friday sermons is coming under attack in Saudi Arabia. I’m certainly not a technophobe, but I think this particular bit of technology is so often misused that limiting its reach can only be applauded. As Saudi Gazette reports:
Use of technology during Friday sermons sparks debate
among scholars
Amal Al-SibaiTechnology is advancing at such a fast pace that it is hard to keep up with it and some Islamic scholars are debating the use of modern means of technology in mosques. Islamic scholars hold varying opinions regarding use of projectors to deliver Friday sermons and while some scholars support its use, others strongly oppose the idea.
Dr. Ali Abbas Al-Hikmi, member of the Council of Senior Scholars strongly opposes the use of projector with slides and/or powerpoint presentations during the Friday sermon. In his opinion, those attending the sermon will not listen carefully and attentively if they are reading from the slides in front of them. Furthermore, such technologies may distract the Imam himself and negatively affect his ability to deliver his speech in an effective manner.
“The main purpose of going to the mosque on Fridays is to listen with undivided attention to the Imam’s sermon,” Dr. Al-Hikmi told Okaz/Saudi Gazette.
“Any technology that enables everyone present in the mosque to properly hear the sermon is encouraged, such as microphones and audio speakers.
However, projectors should not be used unless there is an extreme need to display something. Such technological equipments may distract both the Imam and the worshipers and may diminish some of the benefits derived from the sermon,” he said.
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In one of the several trials now in progress, a group of alleged terrorist/terrorist-supporters are calling for imams who led them toward extremism be punished. That sounds right to me. Far too many have been able to hide behind the cloak of religion – or at least religiosity – to corrupt individuals and Saudi society. That they received a government stipend for the jobs as imams makes it worse. Their doing so led to conclusions that the government supported them in their messages of hate. The government has removed many imams and preachers from their positions; it has not jailed many.
Militants seek arrest of takfiri preachers
MUHAMMAD AL-SULAMI | ARAB NEWSJEDDAH: Three men allegedly belonging to the Turki Al-Dandani terror cell told judges at a criminal court in Riyadh on Monday that preachers who issued takfiri (branding opponents “infidels”) religious edicts and encouraged youths to take part in jihad in Afghanistan should be arrested and brought to justice.
The defendants said preachers who previously prohibited people from watching TV channels are now competing with one another to appear on TV to make money.
They refuted claims that all military camps in Afghanistan belonged to Al-Qaeda or linked with the terrorist organization’s late leader Osama Bin Laden. They reiterated their allegiance to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.
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Saudi media are all reporting that the King’s back surgery went well. Reports are based on an SPA announcement and a report given by Pr Naif during the weekly Cabinet meeting. Arab News‘s report:
Writing in the conservative The American Interest journal, Walter Russel Mead takes a look at what the plot to assassinate Saudi Ambassador Adel Al-Jubair means for US-Saudi relations. He comments on the up-and-down history of those relations – though I would certainly argue against a few of his points – and see the plot as pushing the two countries closer together. Still, worth reading, I think.
Iran: Keeping The World’s Oddest Couple Together
Walter Russel MeadThe alleged Iranian assassination plot against Saudi Arabia’s ambassador in the US (if the allegations hold up) is not news in the sense that it doesn’t tell us anything new or represent anything new about the structure of relations in the Middle East. But it is very important news about the temperature of Saudi-Iranian relations, the explosive character of a rivalry that helps to define regional politics, and the reasons why the oddest couple in the world – the US and Saudi Arabia – quarrel fiercely but never quite break up.
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While sitting on top of one of the world’s greatest petroleum reserves, Saudi Arabia also sits on top of considerable mineral wealth. Saudi Gazette runs a Reuters piece on efforts to develop its aluminum industry through a new smelter and rolling mill, funded with a billion-dollar loan from international and Saudi banks. In addition to aluminum, Saudi Arabia is developing its gold mining and phosphate industries.
Ma’aden gets $911.5m loan for project
JEDDAH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabian Mining Co. (Ma’aden) said Sunday it signed with 13 local and international banks a SR3.7 billion ($991.5 million) facility for the second phase of its aluminum project.
The financing, signed by Ma’aden’s subsidiary Ma’aden Bauxite and Alumina Company, is for the construction of the second phase of Ma’aden and Alcoa Inc. ’s $10.8 billion integrated smelter and rolling mill complex, the firm said in a bourse statement.
… In addition to the smelter and rolling mill, the second phase of the joint venture will include a bauxite mine with an initial capacity of 4 million metric tons per year and an alumina refinery with an initial capacity of 1.8 million metric tons per year.
Ma’aden Bauxite and Alumina Company is 74.9 percent owned by Ma’aden and 25.1 percent owned by Alcoa.
The annual Haj to Mecca represented opportunities for many Meccans to earn their entire year’s income by providing housing and services to pilgrims. Now, reports Arab News, government imposed standards are cutting into their profits. I’m not sure why I should be feeling sympathy for them, though, as the article pretty clearly describes the housing they provided as minimal at best. Yes, a bit of history appears to get relegated to the history books; some ‘living history’ fades. But pilgrims shouldn’t be forced to accept substandard housing simply because it’s there or it’s all they can afford. On the other hand, the complaint may be more focused on the fact that those with money can afford to meet minimal standards fairly easily. It’s the poorer Meccan who is being squeezed out.
I do not, however, expect an ‘Occupy Mecca’ protest to break out.
Makkawis lose traditional rent income during Haj
BADEA ABU AL-NAJA | ARAB NEWSMAKKAH: Until about 30 years ago, the Haj season was seen as an important source of income for Makkah residents. It helped them to earn money that enabled them to meet their daily expenses for a whole year.
The Makkawis would rent their houses, which were mostly not more than four stories, to the pilgrims and live for the rest of the year on the income from the rent.
The Makkawis would live in a room or two on the roof known as the “annex”. No matter how big the family, they would squeeze themselves into a small space, leaving the entire building to the pilgrims.
This trend has lately become a nightmare for residents. The municipality established special committees to check the buildings in order to decide whether they were suitable for renting out to pilgrims.
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Saudi media are carrying the Saudi Press Agency report that the elderly King has gone into a Riyadh Hospital for surgery on his back. There aren’t a lot of details, though I suppose there probably isn’t a lot of information available at present. The papers have favorably noted that he chose to have his surgery done in the Kingdom rather than going abroad. I do wish him well.
Asharq Alawsat reports that the Saudi Permanent Representative to the UN has filed a formal request that the Secretary General inform the Security Council of the plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the US. This is the bureaucratic step necessary to bring the issue before the Security Council. The American government has taken a similar step because the plot was to have taken place in the US.
The article goes on to note the the World Muslim League is expressing its unhappiness over the plot, and that the issue is being raised with the OIC, of which Iran is a member. I doubt that the OIC will kick Iran out or otherwise sanction it, but it could criticize it. I doubt that’s going to happen, though, as it is the sole Shi’a country represented in the group. Expelling Iran would be too strong a measure that seek to present the face of global Islam.
Saudi Arabia takes assassination plot to the UN
Mina al-OraibiRiyadh, Washington, Asharq Al-Awsat- Yesterday, through its permanent mission to the United Nations, Saudi Arabia demanded that those responsible for the attempted assassination of its Ambassador to Washington, Adel al-Jubeir, be brought to justice.
The kingdom’s permanent mission to the United Nations in New York issued a press statement announcing that it had formally requested the United Nations Secretary General notify the Security Council of the “heinous plot” to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the United States.
The statement described the plot as a violation of international laws and UN resolutions, as well as all humanitarian charters and norms, adding that all those involved in this shameful attempt must be brought to justice.
The Saudi representative to the United Nations, Abdullah al-Mouallimi, submitted a letter to the United Nations Secretary General to notify the Security Council. Al-Mouallimi expressed Riyadh’s “deep concern and anger” through his correspondence, which is considered an official letter of protest.
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Asharq Alawsat also runs Mshari Al-Zaydi’s column in which he bluntly lays the blame for the plot at Iran’s doorstep. He notes previous Iranian assassination bids and says that Iran is feeling pressured by events affecting their clients in the region. He tops the list with Syria, but also includes the Houthi group, the Shi’a minority in northwestern Yemen.
There’s also an editorial by the paper’s Editor-in-Chief Tariq Alhomayed, laying out what he sees as the recent history of Iranian enmity toward the Kingdom. He sees the plot as the ‘beginning of the end’ of Iran’s efforts to destabilize the Arab region.
Saudi Gazette runs an opinion piece from Turki Al-Sudairi, originally read in the Arabic daily Al-Riyadh. In it, he claims that Iran is a worse enemy to Saudi Arabia than Israel. That’s awfully strong language to be coming from any Arab newspaper:
UPDATE: Arab News has just posted a story saying that the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, has passed the Saudi complaint to the Security Council:
Well, in the US some states still have laws about ‘unruly child’ or ‘incorrigible child’ that concern runaway children or truants who cannot be controlled by their parents. The laws, however, apply to minor children. In Saudi Arabia, the laws apply to fully adult children as well.
Saudi Gazette carries a story that originated in the Arabic daily Al-Hayat concerning a 47-year-old PhD. She claims to have been physically abused by her brothers and went to the police station to report this after she was thrown out of the family house. Her brothers appeared at the police station and claimed that she had been disobedient toward her parents. The result? The police arrested her for violating a Saudi law concerning respect toward parents.
The case doesn’t end there, however. Because she had filed her abuse complaint first, the law does not allow a later allegation of disobedience, a technicality in process hinged on who got to the authorities first. Further, the police do not have authority to jail a disobedient child: only the Ministry of Interior can do so.
But really?! A middle-aged person is, definitionally, a child of someone. She is not, however, a minor. That middle-aged person should not be subject to arrest simply because he or she doesn’t do what Mommy or Daddy asks. The law appears to be intended to stop the physical or psychological abuse of parents. That’s a real enough issue. Merely disobeying, however, should never be criminal.
This law is not one that applies solely to women; men are equally subject to its vagaries. But it does shed light on the issue of guardianship where a middle-aged woman is unable to assert her own freedom and is forced to live with her family because she doesn’t have a husband around.
‘Abused’ Saudi female academic freed from jail
JEDDAH – The Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution (BIP) in Makkah region released Thursday a Saudi academic who was detained earlier in the morning by Al-Aziziyah District Police in Makkah for allegedly disobeying her parents. The academic is 47 years old and is a social researcher with a PhD.
She was released after it emerged she had earlier registered a complaint of physical abuse against her brothers. The brothers and other members of the family then responded by laying a charge of parental disobedience against her.
Sources from the Human Rights Commission’s (HRC) office in Makkah told Al-Hayat newspaper that the HRC called the BIP and the latter dismissed the case against her. The sources emphasized that the Kingdom’s “laws stipulate that no counter claim should be accepted if the woman had complained about violence”.
The HRC’s Makkah office responded quickly to the academic’s case and was ordered by Dr. Bandar Al-Aiban, the HRC Chairman, to send a team from Makkah to follow up on the academic’s case.
The sources said that the BIP director, Abdullah Al-Qarni, cooperated with the HRC’s supervisor, Ibrahim Al-Nihyani, and ordered that the academic be released. Her uncle came to pick her up.
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Late last year, I reported on a legal case of alleged religious discrimination and failure to find religious accommodation filed by a teacher who asked for extended leave without pay in order to perform Haj. She was refused by her school and quit her job as a result.
Yesterday, the US Dept. of Justice announced a settlement of the case, in her favor. The Department came to an agreement with the school board which – if accepted by the court, as it is likely to be – would resolve the issue. Under the agreement, the teacher, Safoorah Khan, would receive $75,000 in back pay, compensatory damages, and lawyers fees. Apparently, as she’s receiving back pay, she would also be returned to her job.
On its part, the school board will now have to include reasonable religious accommodation explicitly in its policies, as required by law. Further, it will have to train its members and other pertinent officials about religious accommodation.
The settlement does not address the merit or reasonableness of Ms Khan’s request for 19 days of leave during one of the busiest parts of the school year. It only addresses the fact that the school board’s policy did not provide for any negotiation over religious accommodation. Had the board such a policy, it well might have have ruled against her, but it would have done so legally. As its existing policy completely excluded religious accommodation as a reason to request leave, it was, as the Dept. of Justice alleged, outside the law.
[Thanks to Eugene Volokh of the Volokh Conspiracy for the pointer.]