Religious police in Saudi Arabia arrest mother for sitting with a man

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3321637.ece

Religious police in Saudi Arabia arrest mother for sitting with a man

A 37-year-old American businesswoman and married mother of three is seeking justice after she was thrown in jail by Saudi Arabia's religious police for sitting with a male colleague at a Starbucks coffee shop in Riyadh.

Yara, who does not want her last name published for fear of retribution, was bruised and crying when she was freed from a day in prison after she was strip-searched, threatened and forced to sign false confessions by the Kingdom's “Mutaween” police.

Her story offers a rare first-hand glimpse of the discrimination faced by women living in Saudi Arabia. In her first interview with the foreign press, Yara told The Times that she would remain in Saudi Arabia to challenge its harsh enforcement of conservative Islam rather than return to America.

“If I want to make a difference I have to stick around. If I leave they win. I can't just surrender to the terrorist acts of these people,” said Yara, who moved to Jeddah eight years ago with her husband, a prominent businessman.

Her ordeal began with a routine visit to the new Riyadh offices of her finance company, where she is a managing partner. The electricity temporarily cut out, so Yara and her colleagues — who are all men — went to a nearby Starbucks to use its wireless internet. She sat in a curtained booth with her business partner in the café's “family” area, the only seats where men and women are allowed to mix.

For Yara, it was a matter of convenience. But in Saudi Arabia, public contact between unrelated men and women is strictly prohibited.

“Some men came up to us with very long beards and white dresses. They asked ‘Why are you here together?'. I explained about the power being out in our office. They got very angry and told me what I was doing was a great sin,” recalled Yara, who wears an abaya and headscarf, like most Saudi women.

The men were from Saudi Arabia's Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, a police force of several thousand men charged with enforcing dress codes, sex segregation and the observance of prayers.

Yara, whose parents are Jordanian and grew up in Salt Lake City, once believed that life in Saudi Arabia was becoming more liberal. But on Monday the religious police took her mobile phone, pushed her into a cab and drove her to Malaz prison in Riyadh. She was interrogated, strip-searched and forced to sign and fingerprint a series of confessions pleading guilty to her “crime”.

“They took me into a filthy bathroom, full of water and dirt. They made me take off my clothes and squat and they threw my clothes in this slush and made me put them back on,” she said. Eventually she was taken before a judge.

“He said 'You are sinful and you are going to burn in hell'. I told him I was sorry. I was very submissive. I had given up. I felt hopeless,” she said.

Yara's husband, Hatim, used his political contacts in Jeddah to track her whereabouts. He was able to secure her release.

“I was lucky. I met other women in that prison who don't have the connections I did,” she said. Her story has received rare coverage in Saudi Arabia, where the press has been sharply critical of the police.

Yara was visited yesterday by officials from the American Embassy, who promised they would file a report.

An embassy official told The Times that it was being treated as “an internal Saudi matter” and refused to comment on her case.

Tough justice
— Saudi Arabia’s Mutaween has 10,000 members in almost 500 offices

— Ahmad al-Bluwi, 50, died in custody in 2007 in the city of Tabuk after he invited a woman outside his immediate family into his car

— In 2007 the victim of a gang rape was sentenced to 200 lashes and six years in jail for having been in an unrelated man’s car at the time. She was pardoned by King Abdullah, although he maintained the sentence had been fair

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OTEHRS COMMENTS:
Oh yes! Lets have Sharia law in the UK! More violence and hatred please! I would love to be in fear of my life! -Chris, UK,

The more I read about cases like this the more I think that these people are mentally deranged. What a sad reflection on humanity in the 21st century that this type of thing still happens. It is nothing short of disgusting and shameful.
William, Padstow, Australia

Take a long hard look at your politicians. They support the Saudi Government. They support repressive regimes across the mideast, so that you can have cheap oil.
Seth Delackner, Tokyo, Japan

As much as I hate to say it, Saudi Arabia is a sovereign nation and they have a right to enforce these kinds of laws. I hate how so many self-professed "tolerant liberals" can be so amazingly intolerant of cultures that are unlike their own.
Jordon, Tulsa, OK

how says is not in the Koran? please read the koran, read sharia law, check the "declaration of human rights in Islam" if cuba and rusia where comunist, and noone doubts it, why would you say that Iran and Arabia Saudi are not real Islamic? how much more Islamic can they get?
Islam is not peace, the word Islam means "submission" literally, (submission to the will of allah).
Less excuses and more reality check.
rufo, London,

I believe, this is a matter of sovereignty. Do the Saudis have the right to write their own laws or not. In absolute terms this is unbelievable and should obviously not exist in the 21st century, but who are we to tell the Saudis, what is right in their country. As the saying goes: "When in Rome, do as the Romans do". If you don't like it, get out.
Karl Pongs, Corona, California

Well, as crazy as the whole story sounds, The lady knew the laws and rules in Saudi. If she doesn't like it, leave. Otherwise, dont whine and complain when something like this happens.
Jeff, Russellville, Alabama

I'll never get over the irony that these ultra-conservative islamo-fascist officers have no greater friends in the world than the ultra-liberal leftwing in the West.
Matt, Chicago, IL

Why is there no official comment from NOW, so called National Organization for Women... is it because this would actually be a fight for justice and not just an easy way for them to get their names in the media?
Fern, Monterey, USA

And this is the Sharia law so many many of our MP's and bishops say we should be considering so that we can be all inclusive!! God help us!
Ann, Oxford, UK

Maybe those crazies have got it right! Even our western bible says women are here to serve men. It's mainly the women who complain. You don't hear any Saudi men complaining about it do you? So maybe they are right. It is a mans world and maybe women are only here to serve men. Show me any religious text that contradicts that! So, instead of gabbling on with your feminist mantras, howabout observing the thousands of years of history that show us man is the superior gender and just do what you're told! And show a little respect to the man's world and God's laws.-Simon Peter, Toms River, USA

Another example of the "religion of peace and love??"
Tony, Tampa, Florida