Posted on 09/24/2007 9:28:14 AM PDT by mojito
Two Saudi women called agents of the feared religious police terrorists, and one sprayed the men with a tearing irritant after the agents stopped them because they did not conform to the kingdom's strict dress code, the religious police said Monday in a statement.
One of the women filmed the incident, which took place in the Eastern Province on Thursday, the statement quoted Muhammad bin Marshoud al-Marshoud, head of the Eastern Province branch of the Commission for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice as saying.
The commission employs the police unit that enforces the kingdom's strict Islamic lifestyle. The police patrol public places to ensure women are covered and not wearing make up, the sexes don't mingle, shops close five times a day for Muslim prayers and men go to the mosque and worship.
"Two members of the commission were attacked, cursed and sworn at by two women who were blatantly dolled up," al-Marshoud said, meaning the women were wearing makeup.
He said the agents stopped the women to give them advice and guidance after they noticed they were wearing makeup.
"One of the women took out a black container and sprayed a tearing substance at them while the other filmed what happened with her phone camera while making improper comments," al-Marshoud said.
He said commission members "took control of the situation with help from security patrols."
"During questioning, the women apologized for attacking the two commission members, signed a statement and were released," he added.
Monday's unusual statement by the commission, which rarely comments on its interaction with the public, comes weeks after a rare backlash on its members that was triggered by the death of two Saudi men in religious police custody.
For the first time, members of the force were put on trial for alleged abuses in the two cases. In the separate trials, religious police were charged with causing the deaths of the two men.
A Saudi court later dropped charges against three members of the religious police and a regular police officer in one of the cases, which involved the death a man shortly after his arrest in June by the religious police for being alone with a woman not of his family.
The second trial, which involves the case of a man who died shortly after his arrest for allegedly consuming alcohol, is still ongoing.
The two cases have sparked calls by human rights groups and newspapers for reforms in the force, which has long been seen as above criticism.
In a related development, commission members banned female shoppers from sitting in a makeshift outdoor restaurant to have their fast-breaking meal in a low-income neighborhood in the western port city of Jiddah because men were already seated at special tables set up for the holy fasting month of Ramadan, according to Al-Watan newspaper.
The paper quoted Muhammed Mehdawi as saying commission members forced his wife and children to eat their food while standing next to him. Other women stood by the stands that run the modest eatery.
Ali al-Luhayyan, head of the commission's Jiddah branch, said the agents' actions were meant as a deterrent, "especially since some of the women were dolled up, and also to prevent the mixing of the sexes that could happen at such events and which our religion rejects," the paper said.
I wouldn’t volunteer to start their cars.
Who wants to take a bet that these women are still alive? Anyone? Who wants to take a bet that Western feminists will have anything to say about it? Anyone?
Brought ‘em to tears, eh? What did she use, soap?
no it’s not. The society has many freedoms and the women live in accordance with long held custom.
People are free to come and go as they please. They travel widely all over the world.
The crime rate is nearly 0.
Many of the rules they have were and are enforced in some parts of America today. That is in Christian communities.
The christian zelots have dropped their extreme insistance on no alcohol, female head to toe dress, long hair, no make up, no TV, No radio and on and on.... Don’t say know because it is still lingers tody.
Notice what happened with the women: "During questioning, the women apologized for attacking the two commission members, signed a statement and were released"
Most likely, the religious police had the bad luck to pick on female members of the Saudi Royal Family. Those would be the only ones likely to think they could assault police and live
Right on, women! Will this inspire other women to stand up to the totalitarian nazis?
Brave but stupid...
They won’t last long in a Saudi Prison.
You might be right. One rule for the royal family another for all others. It still sucks!
Will the ladies now be stoned or will they be beheaded?
Don't tase me, Mo!
But that means the religious police were also not praying during prayer time doesn't it?
the death a man shortly after his arrest in June by the religious police for being alone with a woman not of his family.
This was an offense that he was arrested and jailed for.
http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/2003/issue3/jv7n3a2.html
Poverty is one of the immediate manifestations of unemployment. In Saudi Arabia, poverty is reflected in high population growth, in poor housing and inadequate social services. To dramatize the problem of poverty in Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Abdallah toured homes of poor people in Riyadh for an hour and a half. He called on the wealthy people of Saudi Arabia to do more for the poor, which, as will be discussed later, is the Saudi way of addressing urgent social issues. A striking manifestation of poverty is the large and growing number of street beggars. According to published data, the number of arrested Saudi street beggars, both male and female has been on the increase. Most alarming is the number of beggars who are children. A Saudi journalist complains about “convoys of human beings who arrive every day… who could be a source of danger to the citizen and the security of the land.” The author, Salwa abu Mideen, complains that beggars search the garbage cans, which cause “the spread of bad odors, flies and mosquitoes.”(24)
At the same time, the elite has a very high standard of living. In 2002, the Saudis charged $19 billion against their Visa credit cards, an increase of 23 percent over the previous year. The average annual charges were $8700 per card.(25) The kingdom imports more than 275,000 cars a year at a cost of 41 billion riyals ($10.9 billion), in addition to spare parts at a cost of 9 billion riyals ($2.4 billion).(26) It is revealing that Saudi Arabia is perhaps the only country in which Mercedes cars are advertised as gift items...
Like freedom of religion?
Home Sweet Home -- Bedoin Ingenuity We discovered this "new home" while exporing the desert near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The structure is built primarily out of vehicle frames stood on end. The roof is made of rugs and skins. Of course, it doesn't rain much there...
Here's a different reality in Riyadh. The kingdom Tower an architectural piece of art
Note also that the CEO of the most powerful business entity in the Kingdom is a woman. The times are changing. Modern Saudi Arabia is afterall only a little over 30 years old.
To say that is to completely misunderstand reality. The American experiment with freedom of religion is only 200 years old and the meaning of that freedom is still being tested and challenged.
Saudi Arabia as a nation is only 70 or so and is only now being modernized. It has risen from the desert in a miraculous fashion in thirty years. To have cast off all the old ways and change so drastically in so short a time is not reasonable. History and change takes time.
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