Saudi-Arabia: A Haven For Child Molesters, Wife Beaters And Daughter Killers?

Maybe you have heard the story of Lama,Al Ghamdi, a five year old girl tortured to death by her own father, a so called religious "sheikh" Fayhan Al Ghamdi. http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/11/11/249009.html
Lama Al Ghamdi was beaten with electric cables, her back broken and half of her head smashed in. She was sexually assaulted and her anal canal torn open which the beast also tried to burn closed. She was brought to the hospital where she remained in ICU for 10 months and then died last October.

To make matters worse, it might happen that this criminal Fayhan Al Ghamdi will be to be let off with just a four months jail sentence and by paying blood money to the victims family. In other words, himself. This could only happen in Saudi-Arabia, where crimes against women and children go mostly unpunished.

Yes there is actually a judge in this day and age who made such a ruling, as ridiculous, horrific and unbelievable this may sound. And this is the image these sick men are giving to the world about Islam. No wonder people think it's an evil religion.
The full story can be read on Saudi Woman's blog: http://saudiwoman.me/2013/01/31/rest-in-peace-lama/
Omaima Al Najjar also wrote about the background of this case: http://omaimanajjar.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/islamic-preacher-getaway-with-a-murder/

I would call Faihan Al Ghamdi an animal, but even animals have more integrity and wouldn't do this to their offspring.

Sick bastards like this exist everywhere in the world but in Saudi-Arabia they can actually get away with their actions. In this so called model state of Islam, men can get away with murdering their children (especially daughters), raping their wives and beating the shit out of their daughters with only minor inconvenience. The courts will always side with the man. After all he is the head of the family and he has the right to treat his "property" as he wishes.

Abuse of women and children are always treated as minor offenses in the Sharia courts. Blood money paid for the heirs of a female victim is half the amount of a male victims. See from the below blood money chart how the life of a woman in Saudi-Arabia is valued always half less that of a male:

• 300,000 riyals if the victim is a Muslim man
• 150,000 riyals if a Muslim woman
• 150,000 riyals if a Christian or Jewish man
• 75,000 riyals if a Christian or Jewish woman
• 6,666 riyals if a man of any other religion
• 3,333 riyals if a woman of any other religion

Truly sickening.

Quran does not mention the amount of money to be paid or any differentiation between the sexes.
"We ordained therein for them: "Life for life, eye for eye, nose or nose, ear for ear, tooth for tooth, and wounds equal for equal." But if any one remits the retaliation by way of charity, it is an act of atonement for himself. And if any fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (No better than) wrong-doers."
This misogynist attitude and rulings come solely from a patriarchal society, not religion, although some of these clerics do try to justify their verdicts based on weak Hadith. Compare this child rapist-killers 4 month sentence to the recent case of the Sri Lankan maid that was executed without fair trial for killing a baby placed in her inexperienced care.

Abusive Saudi men know that they can beat, rape and abuse their women and children without any harsh punishments. Saudi-Arabia's judicial system doesn't help the abused women and always backs up the abusive men. The law serves as a haven for these kind of men.

According to Saudi Woman's article, if the woman reports the abuse to the police, the Hai'a (religious police) and her guardian (her abuser) are called to harass the victim out of reporting it for up to four hours before the social services are called. How many women in that situation are actually strong enough to face these bullies and end up going back home to her abuser?

A while ago I was faced with the difficult situation of my friend here suffering physical abuse from her husband. She's a foreign wife with a Saudi husband. Her husband has abused her for years even before they moved to Saudi-Arabia. They have one child and he had even beaten her while she was pregnant. Now I'm sure that any woman who has been in that situation knows how difficult it is to leave and how there always seems to be a time of calm and the abuse ends. The husband becomes an "angel", only for the abuse to start up again.

Word of warning to any woman outside Saudi-Arabia currently dating, engaged to or married to a Saudi man with an abusive history: DO NOT under ANY circumstances move to Saudi-Arabia with him, EVER. He WILL continue the abuse here. He might tell you he promises to change. He will, but for the WORSE. Even if he promises to go to a psychologist to get treatment, he won't change his ways. Even if he cries, begs you to come, promises you the world..It simply won't work like that. Don't be naive and trust these men. Instead my advice to you is run the other direction and never look back.

If you end up in KSA with him, he will most likely keep you as a prisoner and limit your life and all the contact you have to the outer world. I have personally seen and heard of women like this. He will not give you a phone or maybe even let you use the internet. If he hits you, no one will or can help you. No laws will protect you. Your life will become hell. His family will not help you, they will protect him. I am not exaggerating. Saudi-Arabia is the worst place in the world to be with an abusive, controlling husband, period.

So on to the case of the woman I mentioned. Her husband had beaten her so bad she broke some bones. She didn't have a cell phone because her husband had not given her one, and since they'd recently moved, she didn't even know where she lived. Her only way to contact anyone was through Facebook. The husband had locked her up in a room without windows and left the house with the child. Since she doesn't know anyone in Riyadh, she asked me for help. Together with another friend we were trying to help her to find out where the apartment was located so that we could go and take her to the hospital since she was in severe pain.

We couldn't figure out where she was and since she couldn't even see outside to give some landmarks, she remained in her agony alone in the apartment and there was nothing anyone could do about it. She asked me the number to the police, she wanted to call them from the husbands phone when he came back. In any other country I would've encouraged her to call the police and report him. In Saudi-Arabia however it's not a good idea, especially if you're a foreign woman.

Will the police believe her or the husband? What if he tells them she fell? The woman is not Muslim, most likely they will believe the husband over her. What if she makes the report in any case, who will protect her from the husbands rage afterwards? There are no shelters for her to go to. No relatives to help. Her husband's family would most likely say it's normal and nothing that can be done about it. Us friends could take her in, but would the husband allow that? Of course not, at least not with the child. He might get upset at her making the report and send her back to her home country. He has the power to do so, and to keep their daughter in Saudi-Arabia and the woman would never see her again. If the case ever were to go forward, the judge would just brush it off by saying she deserved it by disobeying the husband and that he had the right to beat her.

So I told my friend, don't call the police. You will just get yourself into more trouble. What I did advise her is to get out of the country with her child and never come back. She's going for vacation to her home country and I sincerely hope she finds the strength to leave him and never returns to Saudi-Arabia.

Back to the story of Lama. There's still a little hope for Fayhan Al Ghamdi to be charged with capital punishment but her mother is from a very poor family and they haven't been able to get a lawyer yet. There is going to be another hearing this Sunday. Hopefully the family would be able to get a good lawyer for her and they can appeal the sentence to get this monster locked up. Fayhan Al Ghamdi deserves the same fate as he inflicted upon his daughter.

What is important now is to get her story out there. Spread the word, tell the world about this little angel and her monster father and the cowardly misogynist men who stand behind him. Paying blood money for killing your own children is a disgrace and crime toward all children and women in the world.  Al Ghamdi deserves the death penalty for his atrocious crime. This man is sick and will most likely commit such horrendous acts again. Help Lama's mother get justice by forwarding her story.

I hope there is a very very special place waiting for Fayhan Al Ghamdi in hell.

May the little angel rest in peace.

UPDATE: Lama's mother Syeda Ali has a lawyer and the trial has been postponed two weeks. There is no official verdict yet and Lama's mother is refusing blood money and pushing for death sentence for Fayhan Al-Ghamdi, who remains in jail awaiting trial.
No blood money has been paid yet nor was Fayhan Al Ghamdi set free, despite many news sources reporting he was released.

Muttawa Encounters Volume 2

I noticed that a post on one of my favorite subjects, the Saudi religious police, was long overdue. "Muttawa" is actually the third most popular search word that lands people on Blue Abaya, so something about them just fascinates (or disturbs) people and they want to find out more.

Read volume 1 of muttawa encounters here.

For many expats coming to the Magic Kingdom the concept of a religious police force is just incomprehensible or downright insane. Why do Saudi people need morality cops to tell them how to behave? Are they really THAT bad? If Saudis are supposed to be the role models of Muslims to the rest of the world, then why is it the only country that needs religious police chasing down people on the streets and enforcing morals on its citizens?

I hear so many muttawa stories from my friends all the time and unfortunately they are 99% negative. That said, there are some smart religious cops out there, I swear! Check this post for one example: Muttawa Gets It Right.
There are too many similar stories to mention here, most relating to women and covering hair and being chased by muttawa in malls. I thought of compiling another muttawa encounters list with the top most disturbing or hilarious incidents. These are all very recent cases from around the capital that happened to friends and family.

My mother visited us for few months here in Saudi and the few times we went to the mall (she hates malls) every single time would a squad of the morality cops chase her. I think we had bad luck but also during that time muttawa were on a roll. This was before the old Hai'a boss was sacked.
Her first encounter happened at Sahara Mall, she was on her own browsing shops while we were with the baby in another shop. Three muttawa came up to her. She said they could not have been much older than her teenage son (19yrs) and there she was, a 60 yr old woman minding her business when suddenly these three men started very aggressively shouting at her.
At first she did not even understand and just got scared and thought she had committed some crime. When they motioned at the scarf she understood and put it on. But that did not satisfy this blood thirsty moral squad. They continued shouting at her and by this time everyone was looking and she was mortified.

Apparently they didn't like how she had wrapped the scarf on. My mom walked out of the shop and tried to escape because she didn't understand what was wrong but they followed her like sharks. She had felt frightened and cornered.
Finally when they saw my husband and he shouted for them to go away they left. After confirming he was the "owner" of this red haired woman causing a stir of course. The same squad came three consecutive times to check on her if she still had the scarf on. I was so angry when I heard this that I wanted to go check their ID's and names and make a complaint but they had already left the mall by that time.

Mom wanted to make a complaint to the human rights commission because she felt her dignity and basic human rights had been violated, which was of course true. I felt so angry and frustrated that this was the experience and image she was getting of Saudi-Arabia. And of course she told everyone about it, so this is how muttawa vicariously spreads image of muslims as aggressive harassers, hostile toward foreigners, women haters and intolerant people.

Another incident this year that happened to two young Finnish women in IKEA. Two Hai'a officers were browsing for Vice which apparently IKEA has plenty to offer. Just look at what they have to deal with:

The horror. An uncovered smiling woman, with a dash of lipstick and some decolletage to go with it!

The muttawa at IKEA had spotted the sinful uncovered westerners and started their customary yelling. These two women have been here for years and become accustomed and immune to the harassment so they continued shopping as if nothing had happened. This angered the bearded bullies and they started following the women repeating the same over and over and now adding they should leave the store. The women ignored and cheerfully talked in Finnish about the furniture, as if there was no disturbance whatsoever. They knew muttawa cannot touch them or make an arrest without policemen present. Pretending muttawa were just a tiny mosquito making some buzz had gotten rid of them every time. The muttawa left but this time only to return with two police officers.

The women did not give up and continued walking around trying to seem calm but at this point they were furious. Now one of the angry beards lost his cool. He grabbed the shopping cart one of the women was pushing and started to drag it in the opposite direction yelling barra (out)! She held on to it with all her might and pulled the cart back yelling no! This tug of war lasted for a while with onlookers gathering around. It ended in the victory of the woman and the defeated muttawa leaving with his tail beneath his legs.


Another Finnish iron lady and long timer here who also uses the ignoring tactic was shopping by herself in the Riyadh Gallery Mall. While inside a clothing store the muttawa squad entered and asked her to cover. She initially ignored but when it became apparent they would not leave she got frustrated, took a dress from the clothing rack and placed it on her head saying inshallah! She had forgotten her scarf home. Muttawa was satisfied.

Another similar incident at the same mall, a western woman is shopping with a group of friends, muttawa approaches and they all cover expect her, she had forgotten to take a scarf. The muttawa did not leave her alone but started getting aggressive and shouting for her to cover her hair. The resourceful woman took the plastic shopping bad she was carrying and placed it on her head. Muttawa left the scene.

A friend of mine was at a frozen yogurt place and wanted to sit down but saw a sign saying women are not allowed to sit inside. She asked why not and the worker said Hai'a officers won't allow it. There was no clear indication it was single section, the place was secluded and there was nobody else around, so why not?

Why were woman allowed to enter, but not sit? The friendly salesperson then told her how the some Saudi women had sat there and muttawa had raided the place to prevent this HUGE vice. The women had left but the poor Filipino worker was accused of not preventing it and his "charge" was allowing women to sit inside. What happened then is the Riyadh Vice Cops had actually hand and LEG CUFFED the worker like he was one of the most dangerous criminals in the world. He spent two nights in jail for this horrid offense.. I don't think they even leg cuff mafia bosses. Or Hannibal Lecter.

Once while we were in a women's clothing store with mom, a muttawa came up to the entrance and started shouting in Arabic. First we thought he was shouting at us but he was targeting one of the male salesclerks. The Turkish clerk looked anxious as the muttawa approached him. The 4 ft tall muttawa continued for a good five minutes of nonstop blabbering and preaching and the clerk was nodding his head, staring at the ground, looking humiliated. By now everyone in the store and the hallway had stopped shopping and were staring at the clerk in a condemning manner as if he had committed a big crime.

When the muttawa finally left we went to talk to the salesclerk because he looked absolutely devastated and about to cry. He told me how this same muttawa comes to his shop almost everyday and always picks on him. I must mention this was a well mannered, friendly young fellow, he was definitely not one of those overly "helpful" and slimy salesmen there are out there. He continued that the muttawa always complained and lectured him on his appearance and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

The first time the muttawa midget came, it was the ear length hair which had been deemed too long. The Hai'a guy made him leave work right there and then to cut the hair short or face jail sentence.
Now the hair was short but he'd put hair gel in it which was what the lecture had been all about this time.

The young man said it felt like being publicly shamed and bullied by this so called religious representative. He told us how he couldn't wait for his contract to finish to get out of this horrible country! I told him to please ignore what the Hai'a say and that they don't represent Islam or Saudis. We tried to make him feel better, he had done nothing wrong. We told him we understand how bad that feels and were sorry he was targeted. My mom talked with him too and afterward he seemed more cheerful about it and thanked us for the support.

Last week there was an incident in Riyadh where a Saudi woman got harassed by muttawa because of her nail polish and asked to leave the mall. The video has now gone viral all over the internet. Here is the video clip with English subtitles:

Thumbs up for this brave lady for standing up for herself against her harassers. Saudi-Arabia needs more women like her!
More on this incident from these two blogs:
Saudi Jeans: http://saudijeans.org/2012/05/25/saudi-jeans-8-nail-polish/
Saudi Woman's Weblog: http://saudiwoman.me/2012/05/25/the-immodesty-of-nail-polish/

Some more reading about the religious police on Blue Abaya:

Meet The Saudi Religious Police

Lower Your Gaze Mr. Muttawa!

Muttawa Gone Wild

Commission Of Ex Thieves And Drug Addicts

Do you have a muttawa story, positive or negative, to share?

P.S Non-Muslim women are not required to wear head scarf or face veil In Saudi-Arabia, only the abaya is compulsory and all women mentioned in this post were wearing abayas.

An Expat's Tale From A Saudi Jail

It's my pleasure to introduce you to an expat nurse and friend of mine who worked in Riyadh for a few years. Her memories from Saudi are positive despite some negative incidents that occurred during her stay here such as a short jail sentence! Read on to find out more about her life in the Magic Kingdom!


First of all thank you for agreeing to this interview and for sharing your experience about life in Saudi-Arabia as a working western expat woman. You had some pretty out of the ordinary experiences while you were here! 
What got you interested in coming to Saudi-Arabia in the first place?
What was your very first impression about the Kingdom, and did it match what you had expected it to be?
You worked as a RN in a large government hospital. How would you describe the hospital compared to ones in Finland and what was the most difficult thing to adjust to in Saudi?


So how did I end up in Saudi-Arabia for work? It wasn't my plan... I just needed to get out of Finland during that time and do something extreme. One call to the agency, and next thing I noticed I was filling up the papers to Saudi! Nobody believed I was really going there, neither did I, but 6 months from that call I was packing my life to move to Saudi. 

I left with mixed feelings, didn't know what to expect, so I didn't expect anything. I only knew I will wear abaya for next one year and work like crazy! 
I landed in the scary Riyadh airport after midnight. Men all around and all looking at me! Where's my abaya?! Of course I didn't have one at the time..Only thing I knew I needed to get out of this airport as soon as possible, luckily after passport check there was a hospital sponsor waiting for me. 


It took me a short time to settle down around my hospital, I was open to everything! Seemed everyone were super friendly and helpful! I met loads of people, and started to make contact with the surroundings. Hospital was massive, things looked and sounded as if they were going smoothly there. But after working a while I started to notice many things that only sounded good but in reality they didn't actually work. As long as things were looking good to outsiders, people were satisfied with their work. That was hard for me, but then I realized it was impossible to come and change anything, only thing I could do is follow my nursing ethic and do my work, do my 12h shift and go home. 


What were your days off like, and your typical weekend like in Saudi?

Free time in Saudi surprised me in a positive way, there was loads of things to do on your days off. 

Many daily activities like dance lessons, pool days, tennis and gym kept us busy after work! On weekends we had dinners with friends, embassy events, desert walks and camping, snorkling in Jeddah! We did traveling around Middle East, around the world! I met awesome people in Saudi and shared these experiences that I could not have ever thought of experiencing back home! These experiences and possibilities kept me working there up to 2 years. 

I always admired your courage to walk long distances around the city, which is so uncommon in Saudi! There are no sidewalks and traffic is very unfriendly toward pedestrians. What sort of places would you usually walk to and how was your experience, did you get harassed a lot?


 We did walks around the city to the malls from the hospital compound even though it was a bit scary sometimes since the streets weren't made for walking! Many stares from men, but we kept walking! I missed the feeling back home where you could walk freely.

So now to the jail incident..
Tell us what was the situation before you were confronted by the Haia (muttawa)?
What were the factors that lead to your arrest?Were they accompanied with police officers?
How did the Haia treat you and others involved in the incident? Did you feel you were treated with respect? Did you understand what was happening at any point?

I had some incidents during my 2 years there with muttawa, but the scariest one was when I ended up in Saudi jail during Ramadhan. The worst nightmare I could ever think that could happen to me! I was asking my male Arab colleagues (western nationality) to pick me up after work for take away food. While we were waiting for the food to be ready, I decided to step out of the car and wait outside since it was crazy hot! In a few minutes there were muttawa and policemen around me asking questions! 

My friends were inside the restaurant picking up the food. Things started happening when they came out with the food, no questions were asked anymore, we were separated. I was put inside a different car and my friends were taken away in another. I sat in the back seat, doors were locked. I didn't know what was about to happen. I was scared, they took my phone and talked only in Arabic. I couldn't reach out to anyone! Worst case scenarios crossed my mind, horror stories that I had heard happening in Saudi to females - is it about to happen to me? 

After driving around quite along time, I was brought to a big building and saw Saudi females in their uniforms. I felt relief seeing females.. But when I was entering to the building I realized it was a Saudi female jail! I saw scary looking females banging the bars and screaming and crying! And in no time I found my self inside with them, I was so scared. I really thought they would hurt me. I was so shocked of the situation, I separated my self from everyone else, I was just sitting in a corner for hours.  


At the prison, who dealt with you, and how was their treatment toward you?
Did they search you and how was that done? Were you told what they were they jailing you for? Did you have a chance to inform your family or anyone from your employer?

 Female guards asked me to undress for 'inspection'...I was feeling a bit uncomfortable, because I was wearing a top and a short skirt under my abaya. Anyway had to do what they asked and so I removed my abaya. First thing I hear is laughter and words in Arabic, judging my outfit I assumed. I was asked to strip to my underwear and show that there was nothing inside my clothes. They kept looking and going around me, repeating the word mashallaah all the time. After having their fun, they were ready and I was put into the jail cell with my own clothes on. No one spoke in English nor even tried to explain what was the reason I was there at any point of my arrest or stay and no one told me how the process will continue later on. I tried asking many times can I make a phone call, or could somebody explain what will happen next.. but they just ignored.  

What was your prison cell like? 
Did you have other women sharing the same space? How did you spend your time there and how long were you in jail?
Did you get food, water and toilet facilities? What were your inmates like?


It was a big hall with many doorless rooms, in every room there was 6 bunk beds. There was maybe 40-50 prisoners in that area where I was. I saw females socializing with each other, they came to me offering food and water. I realized that these women were like me, jailed for similar cultural reasons like me. One had a newly born baby with her and quite many were with their kids there. 
In that big hall they had a washing room that included 5-6 toilets. Going to toilet, washing yourself, doing your dishes (people had their cups for food)all were done in that same space. Also the kids were washed there too. It wasn't too bad, but maybe too small for that amount of prisoners. 

Also there was a minimarket where you could do your shoppings, it was open certain hour a day. I didn't have any money so I couldn't buy anything, but some prisoners had some. I don't know how they had money since all my personal belongings were taken before they locked me in. In that shop they had snacks, toilet paper (yes you needed to buy your own toilet paper if you felt like you needed one) clothes, like pyjamas, hygiene stuff etc... 

As the night turned into morning, we were offered our first meal because it was Ramadhan also the prisoners had to fast. They threw a big tray on the floor for everyone to pick up their food from there. Next meal would be only later in the evening. I was starving between that time! My jailmates where friendly, and I had a few chats. But only thing in my mind was how to get out of here. They didn't allow me to call anyone, only asked few questions once a while.
I ended up spending two nights there because of the weekend.

What happened to the males involved in the incident?
Were you scared something serious would happen to you, or did you trust your sponsor to help you out?
How did you get out?


Afterwards I heard that my male friends were jailed also, but only for 1 night and were able to inform my family, friends, and the hospital about the situation. After the weekend was finished they called me out for an interview, I told the story as it was, signed some papers and then the officer said I was ready to leave. I couldnt believe it, the sponsor representative for these cases was there waiting for me to drive me back to hospital compound! I was so relieved I didn't care even if I was  going to be sent back home, I was only happy being safe! 

How did this whole incident make you feel? What are your thoughts afterwards?


I was lucky because my jailmates were super friendly to me, some of them gave me things to use. I remember one lady giving me a new pyjama to wear to feel a bit comfortable for sleeping. Most of the ladies in jail where from Asian countries like India, Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh. Many of them maids. I think I got along so well with them because my origins are Asian too. I never actually told them my real western nationality, I felt being 'one of them' would make my stay there easier, and it did. There was only one white western lady there, but she came just before I left. I saw her crying most of the time and nobody in jail tried to approach her and offer their friendship like they did to me. But she looked she didn't want to be approached either, I think she was having the first after shock hours like me when I got there. 
Things ended up well for me, but I'm sure not everyone will be as lucky as me if they would end up in the same situation! 

You always have such a positive outlook on things, I think that helps in coping with the sometimes stressful life in Saudi.
What would you give as advice to women living in or planning on moving to Saudi? How to cope with the different culture and customs?


 Respect the cultural rules, don't cross the boarders if you don't need to. Breaking the rules has consequences. It's hard in Saudi to adapt the western life style, but you should be aware that you are living in Saudi... exceptions may be allowed, but don't trust that you will always get away with it! 

I would recommend Saudi Arabia to anyone who is open for cultural differences, to new perspectives in life and who are easy going. Don't come to change things, come to experience. You wouldn't want to experience the same things that you have already experienced back home? Wishing everyone unforgettable moments in Saudi! I surely did and I'm happy I exceeded myself, my life is so much richer, full of great memories after Saudi!

Thank you very much for the interview and best wishes to you and your family!

Saudi-Arabia and Human Rights Violations

Today is the birthday of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights! 
The President of the Human Rights Commission of Saudi-Arabia, Dr. Bandar bin Mohammed Al-Aiban said in a statement today: "On the occasion of the World's Human Rights Day, the Kingdom continues to promote and protect the values and principles of human rights at all levels".
http://www.alriyadh.com/2011/12/10/article690376.html


That is a pretty bold statement coming from the representative of a country that basically violates the majority of the articles in the UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS.
http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml#a23
There are 30 articles on the declaration, adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10th December 1948. Here are the articles and some examples I added from recent news how human rights are violated in modern day Saudi-Arabia. Notice majority are concerning women.


Article 1.

• All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.  Men and women are not born with equal rights in Saudi-Arabia. The woman's rights will mostly be dependent on her male relatives decisions.

Article 2.

• Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.Race, colour, sex, language, religion, political opinion, national and social origin, property, and birth are all factors that determine the rights an individual has or does not have in Saudi-Arabia

Article 4.

• No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms. Although slavery is officially abolished, some low wage workers and maids still live in slavery-like circumstances. http://www.migrant-rights.org/2010/11/19/indonesian-maid-tortured-in-saudi-arabia-another-beaten-to-death/

Article 5.

• No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Most sites revealing horror stories of torture in Saudi jails have been blocked from Saudi-Arabia (wonder why?). A British man tells of his torture experience from Saudi prison: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/may/10/alqaida.saudiarabia while an Indonesian maid was found to have 24 nails in her body: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11094968

Article 7.

• All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination. The Indonesian maid tortured by her employers received 670$ for damages while her Saudi employers were freed of all charges.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7415290.stm 

Article 9.

• No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile. Citizens are frequently arrested and detained for objectionable reasons. The latest case was the men arrested for filming a youtube video exposing poverty in Saudi-Arabia: http://saudijeans.org/2011/10/18/are-we-fine-two-saudi-men-arrested-over-youtube-video/

Article 10.

• Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him. Women that protested peacefully outside the Ministry of Interior for demanding fair trials for their relatives were detained: http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/saudi-arabia-detains-women-protesters-2011-07-04

Article 11.

• Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence. Earlier this year a Sri Lankan maid was sentenced to death by beheading after an arbitrary and unfair trial, she was not provided a translator or lawyers in court. http://www.humanrights.asia/news/alrc-news/human-rights-council/hrc16/ALRC-CWS-16-14-2011

Article 12.

• No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. The Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice repeatedly violates this clause, the latest news of Hai'a members humiliating and falsely accusing a female neurologist of illegitimate relations at her workplace emerged. 
•  religious police have known to physically assault citizens, even women. This woman was dragged out of the car, her veil ripped off by five members of Hai'a http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=20111011110339

Article 13.

• (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. Women are not allowed to drive and hence move freely.
• (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country. Women cannot leave the country without permission from their male guardian (mahram).

Article 15.

• (1) Everyone has the right to a nationality. Children born from Saudi women married to foreigners are not automatically granted nationality.

Article 16.

• (1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. Saudi women cannot marry without permission from their guardians.  There are cases of "adhl"  where the male guardian refuses to give permission for the female relative to marry: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40407940/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/t/saudi-women-sue-male-guardians-who-stop-marriage/#.TuOx-GPhdt                                                                                                                                                   Saudis are not allowed to marry foreign nationals without permission from Ministry of interior.
• (2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses. Child brides don't have much say in the matter: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/08/saudi-arabia-child-brides-marriage?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

Article 18.

• Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. The only acceptable religion in the Kingdom is Islam, any form of practicing other religions is seen proselytizing and punishable by law. Some critics of the strict Wahabi version of Islam have been accused and sentenced to jail for "insulting Islam":http://www.hrw.org/news/2008/05/12/saudi-arabia-stop-trials-insulting-islam

Article 19.

• Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. A Saudi man named Khaled Aljuhainy went missing after he talked to the press on the planned "Day of Rage", he was the only person to show up and speak out. http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/1677/where-is-khaled-the-story-of-a-disappeared-critic

Article 20.

• (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. Any kind of public gatherings and assemblies are forbidden by law.

Article 21.

• (1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. Saudi Arabia being an absolute monarchy, this is impossible. Most of the high ranking positions and ministries are occupied by royal family members.
• (2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country. Women are not allowed to enter governmental offices, some have women's sections with very limited services.
• (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures. The Only elections currently held in the Kingdom are the municipal elections which have been accused of being only cosmetic and not with real political influence.http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=45819 Women will be allowed to participate in the next round 2015.

Article 23.

• (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. Women cannot work without permission from their male guardians and even if they have permission their employment options are limited to a few fields.
• (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. Employees are paid according to their passport. For the same work an American will get paid 20,000 while an Asian colleague gets a mere 5000 for the exact same job.

Article 24.

• Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay. Foreign domestic workers like maids and drivers have no set working hours, days off or holidays, it is up to the employer to decide. There is no law to ensure workers are treated fairly.

Article 25.

• (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. Saudi women cannot access medical services without the consent of their male guardians.

Article 26.

• (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. Saudi women need the permission from their guardians to study.

That adds up to a whopping 20/30 violations. 

The President concluded that "the Kingdom will go ahead in the promotion and protection of human rights in accordance with the rules of Islamic Sharia and by continuing to make regulations and laws that contribute to the achievement of justice, equality and the protection and preservation of human rights."

All of the articles of the declaration for human rights are in accordance with Islam.
 How come Saudi-Arabia's Sharia law is not??


Because it's the culture, not the religion that is violating these rights!

Ramadan- Favorite Month For Saudi Religious Police

Ramadan, the busiest season of the year for the members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (CPVPV) aka Saudi religious police force. I like to refer to them
more familiarly as the muttawa.

DISCLAIMER: This entire post is written in a sarcastic tone, tongue in cheek. For those readers that suffer from over-sensitivity and lack sense of humour, I recommend you don't read any further, because you might get offended :)

During Ramadan malls all over Riyadh will fill up with Saudis shopping until they drop (which would be around 3 am). What a better opportunity for the moral cops to get some serious moral enforcement done! If you don't know what Saudi religious police are read more here and find out some of my previous encounters with them here and here.

New toys for the bearded boys
Before the Holy Month the muttawa have been busy preparing their fleet of white GMC Suburbans in anticipation of making many new arrests. CPVPV recently received some (about 53 million dollars) bribery ahem sorry support money from the royal family and they were able to pimp their 600 rides with hi-tech anti-immorality gadgets. The GMC's now contain laptops, scanners, fax and copy machines and I bet a coffee machine and a plasma TV too.

Why is Ramadan such a fruitful time for muttawa?
Firstly because the pure numbers of immodestly dressed women and men at malls nearly triple compared to normal months. Uncovered faces, male-leggings (meggins), pink shirts on men, shorts, flashy abayas, high heels, t-shirts with the highest button left unbuttoned.

You name it- surely the muttawa will find it.

During daytime the religious police will be on the look out to catch foreigners secretly taking a sip of water or chewing gum in public places which is viewed as forbidden during Ramadan daylight hours (but only in Saudi-Arabia!)

Ramadan also enables easier entry to malls for single men who are normally unable to enter malls without a female (guardian). They might try to sneak into crowded malls by infiltrating into groups of women as fake brothers.

Special opportunities 
Food courts are another place of interest for the religious police since lots of haram mixing happens if the food court counters are not separated by screens. Women tend to remove their veils partially when eating in the closed family sections. This poses great potential for eager officers who've specialized in terrorizing dining females.

Women's clothing stores might have hidden dressing rooms in the back rooms and if found the muttawa have really hit the jackpot!
Another point of interest for muttawa are mirrors. Some shops for women's clothing actually hide mirrors behind the racks.

Religious cops are also keen to check on the abaya shops for anything with too much color or bling-bling on it. In other words, anything other than ALL BLACK is a big no-no. There is no point of going to the abaya shops when the CPVPV members are present at the mall (if looking for anything else than the standard all black version). Abaya salesmen are clever enough though and often manage to trick the muttawa by hiding the flashy abayas and scarves. Even the catalogs for the embroidery and sequins have magically disappeared.

Muttawa field trips
Just the other day the Saudi religious police force were having a blast at one their favorite hangouts Granada Mall, known to locals as "Gharnaata Moll". As my husband and I entered I noted the presence of not one but two CPVPV vehicles parked outside the entrance. I made a remark to my husband betting we will run into them inside the mall. I counted a staggering seven muttawa apprentices in addition to the Big Boss donning the black cape (bisht), all accompanied by one or two security officers. They were armed as if going into war.

We actually went to this mall specifically to check out the Saudi Cancer Society Photo Exhibition held there. Funny how they allowed that btw.

I took some pictures of the expo and before I could say "maashallah" I spotted the muttawa.

The commission members didn't seem to have any interest in the exhibition itself (although images of living things and art by Saudi women were on display and there was no segregation of sexes) but instead they were going in and out of stores checking for above mentioned forbidden things.

The bearded bullies enter a kids clothing shop 
The store we were in was packed with women and children when the joyous mood suddenly changed to silence and wary looks when a religious police officer entered with a mall security guy.

The bearded threat naturally did the most important thing first and went around telling all women to cover (all had niqab on). He then picked out one of the salesmen and took him to the back room with the visibly awkward mall security officer. Everyone in the store was quiet and the atmosphere was like being in a horror movie, will he return alive?

After they emerged (the clerk looked very pale) the commission officer approached my husband. He started interrogating him; name, family, tribe, workplace and so on. The muttawa had an issue with my husband's shorts, which were below the knee length and should be OK, but nevertheless were deemed inappropriate. The muttawa told my husband to immediately leave the mall! 
My husband did not take him seriously but politely promised not to wear them next time.

During this grilling session the security guy stood nearby looking extremely squirmy and embarrassed trying to motion for the commission member to leave to the store.

The muttawa ignored his request and then shifted his interest to me, asking my husband: "Why doesn't your wife have a niqab (face veil) on? Her face is exposed!" My husband replied: "What she is wearing is fine. What is your problem?"

The muttawa replied "Saudi men should keep their jewels hidden."
Hehehe. How nice to be called a jewel ;) And what was this exposed jewel doing during all this? Laughing to herself and snapping a pic of this silly situation.

So what happened to the salesman they harassed? The highest button on his T-shirt had been open and muttawa had given him a long lecture about it in the back room.

Interesting to see what the priorities of the CPVPV members seem to be during this Holy month.