20 face lash, prison for dancing in Saudi Arabia

MSNBC.com ^ | 02/044/07 | AP

[MotleyGirl70]

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - A Saudi Arabian judge sentenced 20 foreigners to receive lashes and spend several months in prison after convicting them of attending a party where alcohol was served and men and women danced, a newspaper reported Sunday. The defendants were among 433 foreigners, including some 240 women, arrested by the kingdom's religious police for attending the party in Jiddah, the state-guided newspaper Okaz said. It did not identify the foreigners, give their nationalities or say when the party took place. Judge Saud al-Boushi sentenced the 20 to prison terms of three to four months and ordered them to receive an unspecified number of lashes, the newspaper said. They have the right to appeal, it added.

[RexBeach]

"You'll have a fair trial, and then you'll be whipped."

Well, I guess students can rule out spring break in Jiddah.

[caver]

There are no words that can adequately explain that part of the world.

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

whoa...would a Su[per Bowl Party be "arranging for an impudent party???"

[nuconvert]

"433 foreigners, including some 240 women...for attending the party in Jiddah"

That's quite a party

[contemplator]

When you enter a foreign country you subject yourself to it's laws. Even if those laws are ridiculous.

[Jack Black]

Will they lose their gun rights when they return to the USA as convicted felons?

[CholeraJoe]

Why don't Arabs have sex standing up?

Someone might think they were dancing.

[ConservativeStatement]

Maybe we can send "Code Pink" there.

[Old_Mil]

There are no words that can adequately explain that part of the world.

...and these are supposedly our "allies" in the region.

[alloysteel]

What did those invitations to that party SAY?

Jiddah. Home of the hottest parties in Saudi Arabia.

[Wil H]

They have their laws and customs, we have ours.

Which is worse - banning alcohol and parties in Saudi or thousands of teenagers having drunken, public, sex at spring break?

You choose, they are both moral extremes.

[Dixie Yooper]

In the late 60's early 70's there used to be a very blunt ad on TV about traveling outside of the U.S. The message went something like "Their country, their laws" and was directed to our drug abusing youth.

[null and void]

Footloose

[theFIRMbss]

20 Face Lash for Dancing in Saudi Arabia, Posted on 02/04/2007 3:33:21 PM CST by SmithL

[Loud Mime]

If they are into S & M and such the party is still going for them...

/sarc

[LIConFem]

Yep. Which is why I stay within U.S. borders.

[ishabibble]

It may seem foolish to conservatives, but the reason I like to see this sort of news published is that it makes the Leftie Loonies squirm. They hate President Bush, they suffer for the Palestinian cause, the poor Muslims have to live in fear, etc. Then something like this makes it into the papers and the bleeding hearts don't have much to say.

I'm sending this to my sisters. They will skip right over the whipping and imprisonment parts and go straight to the immorality of this war. How do you stop three Liberal idiots in their tracks? Burkas, genital mutilation of little girls, and now this...dancing.

The Muslims have "A League of Their Own". There is no laughing and dancing in Islam!

[Melinda]

This is coming from the AP? What, are they thinking this is something unusual? Similar "justice" is meted out all the time over there. Someone at the AP must have picked his/her head up off the desk for a change, but let's not get our hopes up.

[Rb ver. 2.0]

There are some who deserve the lash for their public displays.