Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: saudi vice

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Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Saudi Vice, episode 18: Pet Peeve

Dogs and cats are cute. And this is what makes them evil.

In addition, it is of course against Sharia law to own a dog as a pet.

But beyond that...what woman can resist petting an adorable dog or cat? It is impossible to imagine that she wouldn't, because women are so inherently weak.

Some unsavory Saudi men have noticed this female weakness, and have taken advantage of it. They would wantonly walk dogs in public areas, forcing chaste Saudi women - against their conscious will - to pet and coo over these hideous beasts that are denigrated in the holy hadiths. Once they pet the animals, it is only a short step to full-blown adultery with the dog owner.

So it is imperative that innocent Saudi women and girls be protected from their evil petting impulses. But how can we protect them?

Luckily, our heroes, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, have the solution. They have outlawed everyone in Saudi Arabia from owning pet dogs and cats.

Othman al-Othman, head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in Riyadh, known as the Muttawa, told the Saudi edition of al-Hayat daily that the commission was implementing a decision taken a month ago by the acting governor of the capital, Prince Sattam bin Abdul Aziz, adding that it follows an old edict issued by the supreme council of Saudi scholars.
The reason behind reinforcing the edict now was a rising fashion among some men using pets in public "to make passes on women and disturb families," he said, without giving more details.
Othman said that the commission has instructed its offices in the capital to tell pet shops "to stop selling cats and dogs".

Thanks to Allah and the Commission, innocent Saudi women can now walk the streets freely without being forced to stop themselves from petting dogs and cats.

Saudi Vice, episode 17: Tat's all, folks

A Filipino worker in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was very happy with his life. He was so happy that he even got a tattoo during one of his visits home that said "Lady Hunter ... KSA."

He came back to the Kingdom and went about his business. But a Saudi Electricity Company worker noticed his tattoo and was aghast.

He followed the man home to find out his address, and then conscientiously called our heroes, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, telling them that clearly this man was aiming to have an illegal illicit affair with innocent Muslim Saudi women.

Our heroes at the Muttawa didn't waste any time investigating these allegations. They searched the man's home, and found even more reasons to punish the Filipino - he had pictures of Filipino women workers in his home!

Will the horrors never cease?

The Muttawa had seen enough. The man was deported away from the Kingdom and its holy places, and Saudi Arabia is a little bit safer from such deviants who dare have tattoos and pictures of women.

Saudi Vice, episode 16: The blasphemous barbers

A number of weeks ago a Saudi man went to a barber shop and heard something that made his skin crawl.

At least, he claims that he did. It is possible that he was in a bad mood, or that he got into an argument with the barber, or that he just didn't like his haircut.

At any rate, he knew that he had legal recourse. He immediately contacted our heroes at the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, and told them that his Turkish barber had blasphemed Mohammed (PBUH.)

The Muttawa sprang into action. They immediately went to the barber shop and arrested the suspect, named Ersin Taze.

By an amazing coincidence, some 15 months ago another Turkish barber, Sabri Bogday, was arrested in Saudi Arabia by our same heroes for exactly the same offense.

In this case, the Turkish Embassy intervened and asked the Saudi justice system to expedite the trial, and the case against Mr. Taze was dismissed for lack of evidence.

Mr. Bogday, on the other hand, remains in jail, convicted and sentenced to death, as his appeals have not all been filed yet. Bogday got into an argument with his neighbor, an Egyptian tailor, and he was arrested after the tailor told the police that he had sworn at God. While Bogday has been in prison for over a year, the Egyptian who made the allegation has disappeared.

Mr. Taze is using his newfound freedom to get out of Saudi Arabia.

Our heroes at the Muttawa have therefore managed to get one blasphemous creature off the streets and another one out of the Kingdom.

A job well done, boys!

Saudi Vice, episode 15: The Evil Western Press

Our heroes at the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice have been getting a lot of bad press recently, and it is time to put a stop to it:

Western media is deliberately trying to malign the commission for unknown reasons, said the national head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in a wide ranging interview with Arab News.

“Or else, why should a respectable institution be denigrated because a few of its officials committed some judgmental errors?” said Ibrahim Al-Ghaith, the commission president.
...
The commission chief also wondered why some sections of the media, particularly in the West, are hostile to the commission, which only aims to persuade people to adhere to their religion and prevent them from morally lapsing.

“Some people are quick to criticize the commission by betraying their ignorance about this noble institution. They are oblivious to the commission’s achievements. They purposefully highlight a few individual mistakes to portray the commission as an evil entity,” Al-Ghaith said.

He added that he disapproves of the term “religious police,” which is commonly used by the Western press to describe the commission. “The official name of the organization is the General Presidency of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice,” Al-Ghaith said.

“The commission is keen to see that its officials are pious, knowledgeable, wise, moderate and gentle in all situations and, above all, never rude or violent,” he said.

“The commission has been offering special training to its field workers at all of its branch offices,” he said, adding that workers are asked to be gentle and told to improve their communication skills.

He also said that psychologists, sociologists, religious scholars, legal experts, educationists, professors and high-ranking officials deliver the training. “More than 80 percent of the commission’s field workers have attended various training programs."

We mentioned these training sessions in Episode 10, The Sting.

“Only five percent of cases we’ve dealt with were passed on to the police or the courts. The commission members are fully aware that publicity would only worsen the situation and leave ineffaceable social or psychological injuries to the youths involved. The members pass the suspects to legal authorities if only they are repeating the violation or do not listen to advice,” he added.

There are situations, which we cannot condone, he added. For example, if a man and woman are caught in a situation that is clearly spelled out in the Holy Qur’an or Sunnah to be wrong, then the commission has no choice but to hand those involved to the police, he said.

Do you see what a raw deal the Commission gets in the media?

Looking back at previous episodes, one can see that every single one was just a simple misunderstanding.

Saudi Vice, episode 14: Death is preferable to immorality

Yesterday, Saudi Arabia was host to another exciting, high speed car chase, courtesy of our heroes, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, otherwise known as the Muttawa.

Apparently two young couples had the audacity to travel in a car. It is unclear why exactly this is "haram" under shari'a law, but Allah knows best, and so do the Muttawa.

So our heroes, naturally, went in full pursuit with their signature white Toyota SUV:

Eyewitnesses said that they saw a commission SUV with two agents and a security officer inside following a white Ford until it crashed into a small farm with the four people inside. As the Ford was still absorbing the force of impact, the Commission’s agents fled the scene, they added.

An eyewitness said after the car had crashed into the farm, he waved at the Commission’s agents to stop but they ignored him, prompting him to report the incident and the license plate number of the SUV to the police. Another eyewitness confirmed that he saw the commission SUV at the scene of the crash as it happened.

A police source said that the eyewitnesses reported seeing the white Toyota SUV at the scene right after the crash and provided its license plate number.

Chief of Madina Traffic Department Col. Siraj Kamal said that early information and eyewitnesses’ accounts suggest that the commission SUV was in hot pursuit of the victims’ car. If the information and reports are confirmed, the case will be referred to authorities concerned, he said.

Firefighters extracted three bodies from the wreckage of the vehicle, said Madina Civil Defense spokesman Col. Mansour Al-Juhani.

The driver, 30, died of internal bleeding one hour later in hospital, said director of King Fahd Hospital in Madina Mutwakil Hajaj.

The four were not identified.

To be fair, the Muttawa deny any involvement despite the eyewitnesses. They also denied any involvement last month when eyewitnesses saw them chase another couple to their deaths.

Our heroes' body count has really been piling up in the past year, as the Saudi Gazette helpfully enumerates:

The Commission’s agents have been recently accused of involvement in many death cases.

Last week, a 29-year-old man jumped from the third-floor window of an apartment to his death while allegedly trying to avoid arrest by the Commission in Adama District, Dammam.

Earlier in March, a young man and a woman allegedly fleeing from agents of the Commission were killed when their speeding car smashed head-on into a truck on the Madina-Tabuk Road. Investigations in the above two cases are still under way.

In May 2007, the Commission’s agents in Riyadh were involved in a murder case during a forced entry into a house and the beating to death of Salman Al-Huraisi, a citizen, who allegedly possessed and sold alcohol. In June 2007, in Tabuk, the Commission’s agents spotted a 50-year-old family driver, Ahmed Al-Bulawi, driving with a woman in his car. They stopped the car, arrested the two and took the man to one of the Commission’s interrogation centers, where he died. The court ruled that the Commission’s agents were innocent in both death cases filed against it.

So the Muttawa death count is now at 9 in the past 10 months. Not bad, because, to the Commission, extremism in the defense of Sharia is no vice.

Saudi Vice, episode 13: Lockdown!

We have already seen many of the adventures of our heroes, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. But what happens to the perps after the crime was committed? How does the Commission ensure that these lowlife immoral scum - especially the women - are never allowed to corrupt upstanding Saudi citizens any more?

The brilliant mullahs who guide our heroes have a foolproof, fail-safe method of ensuring the purity of Saudi society. From the Saudi Gazette, referring to Saudi women's prisons:

[S]ome inmates who had been indiscriminately arrested by the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice on charges of illegal actions stay in custody indefinitely, simply because the commission never gets around to pressing charges...

Brilliant! If they never get charged, they can never go free!

And what about those that did manage to get sentenced? As the National Human Rights Society found:

In a surprise visit to the Berman Prison in Jeddah last week, the National Human Rights Society (NHRS) found that four female inmates have AIDS, and two others suffer from Tuberculosis.

She said the delegation was stunned to learn that King Saud Hospital in Jeddah had turned down repeated requests to conduct HIV tests for the female inmates, claiming that the test is too expensive.

The NHRS’s team, headed by Jawhara Al-Anqari, the Society’s Deputy Chairman for Family Affairs, also found that there were Saudi women who were still in prison after they had completed their jail terms, because their families refused to receive them....

Furthermore, the delegation found that all the prisoners were being kept in the same dormitories, regardless of age and crime records.

So the Commission wisely throws women in prison when they are suspected of horrific crimes like "khulwa" and while in prison they might be stuck there forever, exposed to other prisoners who are only murderers or the like, and exposed to diseases that can kill them.

Thus ensuring that they never, ever get back on the streets where they might entice young men into a meal at a public restaurant.

Our heroes have saved Saudi society's purity yet again!

Saudi Vice, episode 12: Flying sorcerors

It was a busy day for our heroes at the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.

First, they managed to chase a young couple into the path of an oncoming truck.

But there was another, more nefarious evil happening, unbelievably, in the holy Kingdom itself:

Sorcery.

Two Yemenis and a Sudanese man were practicing the black arts in Dhamad, Jizan. They had books and formulas showing how to cast spells, ready to do the most horrible things to innocent Muslims who stumble across their paths.

Luckily, our heroes at the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice found out about these criminals and arrested them.

As the Saudi Gazette reports:

The three are charged with “malicious activities” to break up marriages and inflict harm on people for money. They reportedly slaughtered black sheep as part of their sorcery rituals.

And once the Muttawa were done with them, the three confessed to these heinous crimes.

The newspaper explains the crime of practicing "malicious magic":

As per Shariah law, Saudi Arabia prohibits sorcery. “Malicious magic” is perceived to have the power to influence the mind, body or possessions and cause disease, sickness in animals, bad luck, sudden death, impotence and other such misfortunes.

Truly, how fortunate the Saudi people are that they have people who put their own manhood at risk in order to save the rest of the Saudi males from magical impotence.

Another stellar day for our heroes, and now Saudi men can sleep better at night knowing that they are safe from black magic.

A young man and woman in Saudi Arabia decided to do the ultimate act of evil: to take a drive together in the man's Toyota Camry.

Of course, a man and woman being alone together - even in a car - is known as "khulwa" as can be punished with many lashes and a prison sentence.

Our heroes at the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice got tipped off about this flagrant violation of human decency and started to go after the criminals.

The suspects, knowing that the SUV coming after them had the distinctive style of our Muttawa heroes, decided to try to avoid being detained.

Saudi law states that the Muttawa should never engage in a car chase, but should call police to arrest the criminals. Our heroes, though, knew that the police were not as efficient nor as single-minded about stamping out serious crimes like these as the members of the Commission, and it is an insult to think that the Muttawa cannot chase cars as well as any police officer.

On the Madina-Tabuk Road, in the Tabuk area, the chase ended when the Camry rammed head-on into a truck and burst into flames.

The man’s body was totally charred. The woman’s body was ripped into two by the force of the impact. They were too disfigured for immediate identification.

But most importantly, our heroes managed to stop a flagrant act of khulwa, and, especially, any unspeakable acts that might have followed.

Another fine day for our heroes at the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice!

Saudi Vice, episode 10: The Sting

Like most working men, the employees of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice sometimes have to attend stupid mandatory training sessions. Pinheaded academics who know nothing about the raw, hard real world of enforcing Sharia law come and say things like "you shouldn't bash women's heads with your batons" and "you should be more sensitive when beating foreigners."

In one recent, boring session, our heroes became fed up when the instructor suggested that they should be polite to the public. Other Vice Commission members were upset when this same teacher gave some of them failing grades.

Clearly, this man - a professor of psychology at Umm al-Qra University in the holy city of Mecca - was an immoral attacker of Islam who spat on time honored customs like beating women. The only thing that our heroes needed to do was catch him in the act.

So they set up a sting.

They "persuaded" a woman to call up the professor, pose as a student and ask to meet with him to discuss her grades. He agreed to meet her in a public place, as long as she shows up with a chaperone - her brother.

As soon as he arrived, he was surprised to find the girl alone. The professor then found himself surrounded by our heroes, the religious police, who handcuffed him and hauled him into custody.
He was accused of being in a state of khulwa – seclusion – with an unrelated woman.

The professor has been sentenced to 180 lashes and eight months in jail, and the heroic Muttawa has restored its honor. And by extension, the honor of Allah has been protected as well.

Saudi Vice, episode 9: Flirting in Mecca

Mecca. The holiest of all cities. Where one cannot walk a cubit without thinking about Allah. Where infidels and dhimmis are strictly prohibited to pollute with their presence.

It is also the land of shopping malls.

Our heroes, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, know very well about the dangers of malls.

After all, they must be extra vigilant to guard against that most hideous of Western-style creatures - the mall rat.

The appropriately-named mall rat is a subhuman who goes to the mall, but not to shop for items that increase his holiness and piety. No, this rat has far more nefarious ideas in mind:

To use the mall to meet women.

Our ever-watchful heroes know where to look, and what to do:

Saudi Arabia began interrogating 57 men Saturday who were arrested after allegedly flirting with women in front of a shopping mall in the holy city of Mecca, a local newspaper reported.

The country's religious police arrested the men Thursday night, alleging behavior that included dancing to pop music blaring from their cars and wearing improper clothing, according to the Okaz newspaper, which is deemed close to the government.

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice runs the religious police, who are charged with enforcing Saudi Arabia's strict Islamic lifestyle.

Its members patrol public places to make sure 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.

The police _ informally known as the muttawa, literally "enforcer" _ don't wear uniforms. But they are recognizable by their long beards and their robes, shorter than the ones normally worn by Saudi men. They also shun the black cord that sits atop the headdress worn by most Saudi men.

Women in Saudi Arabia are required to wear a long, enveloping black cloak called an abaya and to cover their hair with a headscarf.

The newspaper report said the men who were arrested Thursday could be released if they could prove they did not flirt with any women. Otherwise, they will be transferred to court and stand trial, the paper added.

The Muttawa arrested the men on Thursday, kept them in jail of course for the Friday day of prayer, and started asking them questions about what they were doing after two nights in jail. And, obviously, if they cannot prove that they were not flirting with women - well, they will stay in jail indefinitely.

Because how else can the Commission keep the holy kingdom moral?

The streets of Mecca are now a bit safer without the improperly dressed dancing men. Thanks, once again, to our heroes.

Earlier episodes:

Episode 8: Seeing red on Valentine's Day
Episode 7: Depravity at Starbucks
Episode 6: Protecting Saudi Women
Episode 5: What's ummah, Doc?
Episode 4: The car washer
Episode 3: Holy Shi'ite
Episode 2: Alone with a strange, sick woman
Episode 1: Introduction, plus A Gang of Magicians

Saudi Vice, episode 8: Seeing red on Valentine's Day

One of the biggest annual challenges that our heroes at the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice have to face each year is the proliferation of the color red in mid-February. As the Saudi Gazette reports:

Islamic scholars around the Kingdom such as Sheikh Khaled Al-Dossari preach that celebrating Valentine's Day and other non-Islamic celebrations is a sin. "As Muslims we shouldn't celebrate a non-Muslim celebration especially this one that encourages immoral relations between unmarried men and women," Dossari, a scholar in Islamic Studies and the Shariah, said.

In the face of such a clear and obvious violation of sharia law, it is up to our heroes at the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice to make sure that young Saudis do not stray - and that means targeting the sources of the scourge:

Agents of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice visited flower and gift shops in the capital Saturday night to instruct them to remove all red items - from red roses and wrapping paper to boxes and teddy bears - from their shelves, shop workers said.
"They visited us last night," said a couple of florists Sunday morning.
"They gave us warnings and this morning we packed up all the red items and displays."
Sunday was the last day people could buy red roses in Riyadh, until Valentine's Day on Feb. 14 passes.

Every year, Commission agents visit flower shops a couple of days before Feb. 14 to issue warnings. On the eve of Valentine's Day, they start their raids and confiscate any red items that are symbols of love, florists here said.

But the sinners are clever, willing to flout the obvious law of Allah to further their capitalist/Zionist goals:

As a result of the ban, there's a black market in red roses.
"A single rose costs around SR5-7 but today the same rose costs SR10 a piece and the price will go up to SR20-30 on Valentine's Day," said a florist who caters to customers on Valentine's Day from his apartment.

Loyal customers place orders with the florist days and sometimes weeks before Feb. 14. "Sometimes we deliver the bouquets in the middle of the night or early morning, to avoid suspicion," said the florist.

Many young hearts are planning to celebrate in their own way, whether in secret, abroad or on the Web.

"I send e-cards to all my special friends online," said Famita Hakeem, a young Saudi university student.

"We are planning on going to Dubai Wednesday night to celebrate Valentine's Day as a couple," said Hannan Radi, a Saudi wife and teacher.

Ms. Radi should have been more circumspect in her comments, as the Muttawa will be waiting upon her return to their territory.

Saudi Vice, episode 7: Depravity at Starbucks

Yara, a mother of three and a financial consultant from Jeddah, visited the new headquarters of her company in Riyadh. The electricity was temporarily out so she decided to go with a colleague to a Starbucks on the ground floor of the building to wait. They sat in the "family section" of the coffee shop.

But her colleague was - gasp! - a man.

Immediately, our heroes from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice sprang into action and arrested Yara and her male colleague for being in a state of "khulwa", meaning in seclusion with an unrelated member of the opposite sex. Starbucks in Saudi Arabia are secluded enough for violating the law, but not secluded enough for our heroes to be able to see what everyone is doing.

The Vice Commission wasted no time. They forced Yara into a cab, took away her cell phone when she tried to call her husband, and then placed her in a Chevrolet Suburban, the Commission's favored means of transporting immoral criminals.

The whore Yara explains what happened next:

“I told (the commission member) that I am a good Muslim, a mother of three, and a God-fearing person who would never do shameful things,” she told Arab News in tears.
Last year, the Interior Ministry issued a ruling that the commission cannot detain people and must pass them on to the police.
Yara said that she was handed a confession.
“He told me I needed to fingerprint this paper stating that I got my mobile phone and bag back,” she said. “When I told him my phone was still confiscated, he threatened me: ‘Just do it!’”
She said that she fingerprinted the paper under duress.
“I had no other choice ... I was scared for my life ... I was afraid that they would abuse me or do something to me,” she said, as she broke down in tears again.
Then another person got into the GMC and switched on the engine.

As the Commission knows well, it is far better for a woman to be alone in a car with two male commission members than in a Starbucks with any other man.

“The next thing I saw from the window was that we were approaching a place with a sign written on the outside: Malaz Prison,” she said.
Inside the prison, Yara recounts being taken to a cell with a one-way mirror. On the other side was a sheikh.
“I could not see him because there was a dark window,” she said, adding that each time she paused he would reprimand her, telling her what she did was wrong. “He kept on telling me this is not allowed.”
Yara told the sheikh that her husband knew where she was and what she was doing. He then started writing a report. Another pre-written confession was fingerprinted, she said. She pleaded with prison authorities to contact her husband.
“They would not let me contact my husband,” she said. “I told them... please... my husband will have a heart attack if he does not know what has happened to me.”
She was not given a phone to call her husband. She was not given access to a lawyer. “They stripped me,” she said. “They checked that I had nothing with me and threw me in the cell with all the others.”

The disgusting, immoral man is still in detention.

The brave men of the Commission managed to keep the streets of Riyadh free from vice for another day.

And we can all breathe easier that the "family section" of Starbucks in Riyadh is a safe place where the virtue and honor of women are respected.

Earlier episodes:

Episode 6: Protecting Saudi Women
Episode 5: What's ummah, Doc?
Episode 4: The car washer
Episode 3: Holy Shi'ite
Episode 2: Alone with a strange, sick woman
Episode 1: Introduction, plus A Gang of Magicians

Saudi Vice, episode 6 (double episode) - Protecting Saudi Women

Two Saudi women were walking down the street in Alkhobar. Shockingly, they dared to do this act while wearing (Allah forbid) - makeup.

Luckily, our heroes from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice were on the scene to be able to kindly explain to them the error of their ways.

But these women, who had already proven that they didn't understand their proper role in the world, turned violent. They called the helpful Muttawa "terrorists," and one sprayed them with pepper spray while the other taped the incident on her cell phone.

As a Muttawa spokesperson, um, spokesman explained it: "Two members of the commission were attacked, cursed and sworn at by two women, who were blatantly dolled up."

The Commission sprang into action, and together with Saudi's Best security personnel they were able to subdue the women, who saw the error of their ways and apologized for their improper behavior.

Meanwhile, in Jeddah, many restaurants set up outdoor tables for their customers to eat their Iftar meals during the hot Ramadan nights. The Commission noticed that not only were men sitting at these tables, but their wives and daughters were as well!

Not only that, but some of the women also were "dolled up," wearing the Shaytan's (Satan's) makeup!

The Muttawa didn't hesitate. They immediately banned families from eating together to avoid the horrible crime of women eating in public with their husbands. Wives and daughters were forced to stand next to tables where the head of the household sat in all his splendor.

While the restaurant owners expressed some concern over losing business, they are nothing but infidels who do not realize the importance of maintaining high standards of modesty and decorum. How else can you properly defend women from male advances without forcing them to stay completely away from men?

Once again, the Kingdom is safer because of the courageous actions of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.

Saudi maid gets arrested after being beaten by employers

This would make a great episode of Saudi Vice, but in this case it appears to be the regular Saudi police, not the Muttawa:

One of the Indonesian maids allegedly beaten up by her employers two weeks ago was taken into custody on Monday from hospital where she was being treated for her injuries.

The Indonesian Embassy was not informed beforehand of the transfer nor has it been allowed official access to the woman or her fellow maid, who was also beaten up by the employers and is still in hospital.

“Tari Tarsim, 27, has been taken away by police to an unknown destination, while Ruminih Surtim, 25, is still in the hospital recovering from her injuries,” Sukamto Javaladi, labor counselor at the Indonesian Embassy, told Arab News yesterday.

A vicious attack two weeks ago on four maids working for the same employers in Aflaj in the Riyadh region resulted in the death of Siti Tarwiyah Slamet, 32, and Susmiyati Abdul Fulan, 28. Tari and Ruminih were left severely injured in the incident. Seven members of the family that the maids were working for are also being held.

The Indonesian Embassy has not yet been officially notified of the incident and only found out about it through Indonesian nationals in Aflaj.

Tarsim and Surtim were admitted into intensive care at Aflaj General Hospital and then were transferred last week to the Riyadh Medical Complex where they have been placed under 24-hour police guard.

“Tari was transferred to police custody yesterday (Monday) but we don’t know why,” said Adi Dzul Fuat, vice consul at the Indonesian Embassy. “The policewoman guarding their room at the hospital told us that Tari has been transferred to jail,” he said.

So the employers beat up four maids, killing two and sending the other two to the hospital. What possible reason could they be arrested for?

Tarsim spoke to Arab News about the attack when she was at Aflaj Hospital. She said that the 17-year-old son of her employer whipped her with his igal accusing her of practicing witchcraft.

...
Speaking about accusations that the maids practiced witchcraft, which is a legal offense, Al-Dandani said, “The maids are denying this completely. And regardless of whether it is true or not, the accusations do not give employers the right to beat them and kill them.”

Ah, witchcraft. It all makes sense now.

Saudi Vice, episode 5: What's ummah, Doc?

Dr. Mamdooh Fahmy was a surgeon at the Albyaan Menfhoh Medical Center in Riyadh. His colleagues noticed that he didn't seem to practice Islam and they started trying to convince him to become Muslim and practice a religion that despises coercion.

After some time of enduring their repeated invitations to become Muslim, Fahmy finally told them that he was a Coptic Christian, and he would not be changing his beliefs any time soon.

Soon thereafter, Dr. Fahmy received a friendly visit from our heroes, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. They insulted him in front of patients and staff, confiscated his car keys, cell phone and wallet, handcuffed him and shackled his feet, and dragged him to a car where they nicely drove him to his house. They then raided his house and confiscated all his written materials, took him to the police station and placed him in solitary confinement.

After five days of this Muslim hospitality, they started interrogating him and referring to him as an 'infidel'.

His crime: Fahmy was accused of missionary activity. It seems that not allowing oneself to be pressured into becoming a Muslim is equivalent to asking people to become Christian, in Saudi Muslim thought.

When the Muttawa finally released him and he tried to get back to his home in Egypt, the Saudi government refused to give him a visa.

Finally, after months calls and letters, Saudi Arabia allowed him to go to Egypt this week.

Once again, the Commission has shown its hatred for vice and its promotion of virtue. Saudis can sleep soundly at night knowing that such zealous defenders of their lifestyle are on constant watch, ready to pounce at even the slightest whiff of infidelism.

Last episode here.

Saudi Vice, episode 4: The car washer.

In the holy city of Medina, a Bangladeshi man decided to wash his car.

Luckily, our heroes at the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice noticed him and arrested him.

As you may have surmised by now, he was washing the car during prayer times.

Unfortunately, after his arrest there was a horrible accident, he "fainted" and died while in custody of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.

The head of the Muttawa said that three Commission officers were questioned and found completely without guilt in the man's death.

Once again, our heroic Vice Squad has been proven to be an effective force in stopping immorality and vice, and promoting virtue, all throughout the Kingdom!

The last episode can be found here.

This week's episode of Saudi Vice

In this week's episode of Saudi Vice...

Muslims like to point out that in Mecca, it doesn't matter what race you belong to or what country you are from; there is a beautiful feeling of unity with all other Muslims worldwide for the pilgrims who travel there from near and far. As Ummah.net describes it:

Although Makkah is always filled with visitors, pilgrims wear special clothes: simple garments which strip away distinctions of class and culture, so that all stand equal before God.
Peace is the dominant theme. Peace with Allah, with one's soul, with one another, with all living creatures. To disturb the peace of anyone or any creature in any shape or form is strictly prohibited.
Muslims from all walks of life, from every corner of the globe assemble in in response to the call of Allah. There is no royalty, but there is loyalty of all to Allah, the Creator....It is also to remember the great assembly of the Day of Judgement when people will stand equal before Allah.

A group of eight pilgrims from the US and Britain of Iraqi descent visited Mecca last week with the intention of participating in this holy rite where all are equal before Allah.

But they were Shi'ite.

When they tried to perform a Shi'a - flavored version of the holy ritual while circling the holy Kaaba stone, they were arrested by our heroes, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.

As was described by an infidel newspaper:

“While in police custody we were handcuffed and savagely beaten with chairs, bats, sticks, shoes and police radio communication devices,” 24-year-old pilgrim Amir Taki said.

He said they were refused food, water, medicine and access to toilets. One was told they would be “killed and thrown to the dogs”.

The group, aged between 16 and 26, said they were not allowed to contact their embassies or relatives.

However, using a cell phone hidden by one of the pilgrims, they were able to contact family members and were released after intervention from the embassies.

The Shi'ite infidels may have won this round, but the Commission (known as the Muttawa) will be ever vigilant to make sure that the sanctity and holiness of Mecca is unsullied by the infidels again.

Last week's episode is here.

This week's episode of Saudi Vice

In this week's episode of Saudi Vice....

Ibrahim Mohammed Lawal is a Nigerian student living in Saudi Arabia. He recently converted to Islam and he was enthusiastic about his new religion. He would spend time looking for ways to share his beliefs with others and to do good deeds.

He had a sickly 63-year old neighbor who needed help. Ibrahim tirelessly brought her to hospital after hospital, only to see her being rejected by all of them for treatment. He finally appealed to Sheikh Fawaz, director of Badiya Islamic Center, who took pity on the woman and admitted her.

This horrific behavior could not be condoned, and it was a stain on all believing Muslims and Saudis.

Thank Allah, the heroic Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice swooped in and arrested him, as he visited the apartment of the sick woman and checked up on her status with three other relatives who live there. They placed him and the three other women in jail, thus ensuring that such a horrendous crime would be publicized and never repeated.

It causes one to shudder to contemplate the very idea of a young man, actually secluded alone multiple times with a sick 63-year old woman!

Latest news from Saudi vice squad

I just love the Saudi Arab News! And my favorite articles involve the famous Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, or CftPoVatPoV as its many fans like to call it.

This week's news:

The lawyer of the family that saw members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice acquitted on Monday in the death of a Saudi national said they will appeal the decision of the judges in the case.
The three judges presiding over the case ruled that the three commission members and a security guard were not guilty of any wrongdoing in the death of Ahmed Al-Bulawi, a 50-year-old Saudi man who collapsed and died in early June after being detained at a commission center in Tabuk....
A part-time commission member in Tabuk arrested Ahmed Al-Bulawi, a retired border patrol guard, in early June after a woman was spotted entering his car near an amusement park. Both Al-Bulawi and the woman were reported to be in a state of “illegal seclusion”. They were arrested and taken to the commission center.
At the center, it was established that the man worked as a driver for the family and would run errands to earn extra cash to support his family. The woman was released after her brother picked her up at the center. Al-Bulawi, on the other hand, collapsed and died. An official medical report said that he died of natural causes due to a sudden heart attack.

Also...

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in Madinah recently arrested an African national, who was practicing black magic at a house in a village outside Madinah. Police and commission members had been on the lookout for the man — the third member of a gang of magicians — since last year.
The commission members’ searched the man’s home and found several items used in black magic and a letter to another magician in Africa. In the letter, the man requested the help of the magician to secure the release of his friends that were arrested last year.

Not to mention...

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in Madinah began this week a series of summer activities aimed at reaching out to the youth and teaching them Islamic principles.
The activities, which are entitled “Discover Happiness by Yourself,” began earlier this week and will run for 10 days. “They are taking place in the Al-Sultana District of Madinah. The activities include lectures, quizzes and fun events,” said Sulaiman Al-Tuwaijri, head of the commission in Madinah.
Talking about the aim of the programs, Al-Tuwaijri said, “The main aim is to increase awareness among the youth regarding Islamic principles and to highlight what is wrong. We aim at solving the social, religious and psychological problems faced by youngsters. The activities aim to show the youth the path of future success.”
Abdullah Al-Zahrani, the general supervisor of the events, said that the commission hopes to provide an opportunity for youths to enjoy their summer and invest their time in something useful.
“We have selected the location of the activities close to areas where youths gather in order to attract them. It is much better for youth to attend these events than go around in malls, which may put them in trouble with the authorities,” said Al-Zahrani.

Saudi vice cops kill man for selling alcohol

Another lovely story from our favorite "moderate" kingdom:

RIYADH, 18 July 2007 — The father of the Saudi young man who was allegedly beaten to death when members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice stormed his house in late May in the capital on the suspicion of his son selling alcohol has demanded execution of the persons responsible for his death.
“I want execution. And I do not want just one person executed, but the three persons I saw beating up my son in the commission center that day,” Muhammad Al-Huraisi, 73, told Arab News. “This is what I officially signed when members of the General Investigation and Prosecution Authority (GIPA) asked me what I sought when I was held up there.”
The father described how the commission members swooped into his house commando style. “Two separate teams had arrived,” he said. “They entered the house from the roof after they jumped from the two adjacent buildings.”
“’Allahu Akbar… We have overcome the deviants!’ was what they yelled out when they got into the house,” he added.
He said that he had replaced five of the doors the commission members broke down to enter the rooms in the house.
Abu Ali said that had authorities simply showed up with a warrant for the arrest of his son, he would have turned him over immediately and peacefully. “Instead, they raided the place, never showed a piece of paper,” he said, adding that the commission members also destroyed the bottles inside the house instead of collecting them as evidence.
A brother of the deceased said he knew that Salman was dealing in liquor.
“Salman kept telling me that he was fed up of being poor and wanted to get more money,” he said. “He would constantly complain about the SR1,500 he got from working as a security guard.”

Saudis can rest well knowing that they have morality police, ready to kill in defense of their whims.