Reprieve for Saudi woman sentenced to lashing for driving

Posted By Kedar Pavgi Thursday, September 29, 2011 - 11:52 AM

Saudi King Abdullah has had a busy week. First was his slow-motion legalization of women's suffrage this past Sunday. Today, there's news that the sentence of 10 lashes for a woman convicted of the crime of driving while female has been revoked by the king.

The AFP reports:

Saudi King Abdullah has revoked a sentence of 10 lashes imposed on a woman for breaking the ban on women driving in the conservative kingdom, a Saudi princess said Wednesday on her Twitter account.

"Thank God, the lashing of Sheima is cancelled. Thanks to our beloved King. I'm sure all Saudi women will be so happy, I know I am," said Princess Amira al-Taweel, wife of billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.

"In tough times we stand together; in good times we celebrate together," the princess said. "I'm proud to be Saudi. To all Active Saudi women thank u for ur efforts."

Several months ago, a video surfaced on the Internet of a woman protesting the ban by driving and posting her commentary as she did it. While that did not cascade into the wider changes that have been associated with the Arab Spring, the subsequent protests were a cultural earthquake that had many within the kingdom questioning the meaning of this movement. As FP's Simon Henderson reported on Monday, Saudi Arabia is facing multiple challenges in the coming future, one of which is the cultural direction of the country.

FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty Images

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Is Saleh's return to Yemen imminent?

Posted By Robert Zeliger Monday, June 27, 2011 - 1:56 PM

There are mixed reports about the health of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh -- recovering in Saudi Arabia from an attack on his palace earlier this month -- and whether he's planning on returning home to his embattled country anytime soon.

Reuters quotes a Western diplomat saying, "We believe he was seriously injured.... He is not coming [home] in the coming days, he is not coming [home] anytime soon."

Last week, an aide to Saleh gave CNN a different take, saying the president would return soon, possibly even last Friday. Obviously, that didn't happen, but aides have told other news organizations that his health is improving and "he is receiving guests, giving instructions on day to day affairs in Yemen, including a power cut and fuel shortages."

And Bloomberg News reports that Saleh has shown no signs he is considering handing over power, despite Saudi and U.S. pressure.

Saleh is still signing official documents -- he sent a cable yesterday congratulating Djibouti on its national day -- and hasn't officially appointed his deputy as acting president. There have been no public reports of negotiations on a transition, and Saleh's party officials talk about punishing his attackers rather than ending his rule.

Bloomberg News spoke to advisors who have visited the president at the hospital in Saudi Arabia. They said he suffered burns to his face and underwent plastic surgery last week to repair the damage. He's lost weight and his voice is weak, but he is alert and is in physical therapy. He could return to Sanaa by early July, one Yemeni official said.

Ahmed al-Soufi, another Saleh advisor, told al-Arabiya that the president would make a media appearance within the next two days, his first time since the attack.

So is Saleh truly on the mend and planning his return to Yemen?

Don't count on it, says Bernard Haykel, a Yemen expert at Princeton University.

"Clearly he is in very bad shape or you would have heard him speak by now," Haykel said. "But he has a vested interest in showing he's still active."

And the close advisors that keep promising a Saleh return any day now?

"He has a group of people who depend on him for their own survival," Haykel said. "They have a vested interest as well in maintaining the fiction that everything is fine and he'll come back. I don't think we should take at face value what that machine is saying. They are making calculations about their own survival."

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Video of Saudi women behind the wheel in protest

Posted By Robert Zeliger Friday, June 17, 2011 - 1:13 PM

If something could be poignant in its banality, the protests today in Saudi Arabia by women defying the authorities and daring to drive would fit the category. Though their act of mass civil disobedience may be small in scale, the women have gotten worldwide attention thanks in part to YouTube, where videos of the defiance were posted. Watching women drive shouldn't be as compelling as it is, but the recordings are quite powerful.

Below are a couple of the posted videos:

And here's an argument for why perhaps the wrong gender is being banned from the road:

Also check out this account of one Saudi woman who took part in the protest and this look at the context in which today's mass protest comes.

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Israeli vulture cleared of spying charges

Posted By Joshua Keating Tuesday, January 11, 2011 - 3:34 PM

R65 -- the Griffon vulture arrested last week on suspicion of spying for Israel because of the Hebrew lettering on its GPS tag -- will soon be released according to Saudi Prince Bandar bin Saud al-Saud:

"These systems are fitted to birds and animals, including marine animals. Most countries use these system, including Saudi Arabia," Saud told Saudi media on Sunday, according to Emirates 24/7. "We have taken delivery of this bird, but we will set it free again after we [have] verified its systems."

Saud insisted he wasn't defending Israel, but called for calm.

"Some of the Saudi journalists rushed in carrying the news of this bird for the sake of getting a scoop without checking the information," he said. "They should have asked the competent authorities about the bird before publishing such news."

This is certainly good news. No innocent bird -- even a vulture -- deserves to be held on trumped up charges. I also hope that R65's colleague, reportedly still circling around Saudi Arabia, will stay safe.

Though given the political realities of today's Middle East, Tel Aviv University might want to consider slightly more innocuous tags for future research subjects. Unlike Israeli gerbils, Israeli vultures do not recognize natural boundaries.

MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images

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Inside Saudi Arabia's party scene

Posted By David Kenner Wednesday, December 8, 2010 - 3:12 PM

As a general rule, I will click on any WikiLeaks cable titled "Underground Party Scene in Jeddah." And this account of a Halloween party at a prince's residence in the coastal Saudi city does not disappoint. Here's what one diplomat had to say about what went on beyond the "abaya coat-check":

Alcohol, though strictly prohibited by Saudi law and custom, was plentiful at the party's well-stocked bar, well-patronized by Halloween revellers. The hired Filipino bartenders served a cocktail punch using "sadiqi," a locally-made "moonshine." While top-shelf liquor bottles were on display throughout the bar area, the original contents were reportedly already consumed and replaced by sadiqi … It was also learned through word-of-mouth that a number of the guests were in fact "working girls," not uncommon for such parties. Additionally, though not witnessed directly at this event, cocaine and hashish use is common in these social circles and has been seen on other occasions.

The revelers told the diplomat that they hold such events at the homes of Saudi princes -- an effective method for keeping the religious police at bay.

Omar Salem/AFP/Getty Images

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Photo: Saudis prepare for great Middle Eastern jungle war of 2020

Posted By Joshua Keating Monday, November 15, 2010 - 7:40 PM

Saudi special forces take part in a military parade in preparation for the hajj in the Saudi holy city of Mecca on November 10, 2010.

Clearly the Saudis have no intention of letting regional rivals Iran gain an edge in the freaky cammo department. But just what sort of terrain are these armies planning to fight on?

MUSTAFA OZER/AFP/Getty Images

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Iran blocked, but Saudi Arabia accepted for U.N. Women board

Posted By Joshua Keating Wednesday, November 10, 2010 - 2:30 PM

This morning the U.N.'s new umbrella agency for women's rights issues elected its board members. The election had attracted controversy because two of the candidate countries were among the world's most notorious abusers of women's rights, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

This morning, with strong lobbying from the United States, Iran's election to the board was blocked. Human rights groups had strongly opposed Iran's election, pointing in particular to the recent death sentence of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani for the crime of adultery.

The 54 countries who sit on the UN’s Economic and Social Council did, however, accept the membership bid by Saudi Arabia, where women are forbidden from driving and barred from many public places.

In fact, according to the U.N. Development Program's own Gender Empowerment Measure, Saudi Arabia is actually a worse country for gender equality than Iran. Neither does particularly well, but of the the 93 countries ranked, only Yemen scores lower than Saudi Arabia.

Iran's candidacy for the 41-member executive board had been part of a slate elected by the Asian region while Saudi Arabia was selected for one of the spots reserved for "donor" nations. Not a particularly auspicious start for an important new body.

HASSAN AMMAR/AFP/Getty Images

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UAE follows through on BlackBerry threat

Posted By Jennifer T. Parker Monday, August 2, 2010 - 1:34 PM

Following the UAE's recent admonition of BlackBerry smartphones, the country will prohibit three of BlackBerry's web operations starting on Oct. 11 -- e-mail, instant messaging between BlackBerry phones, and the web-browsing program -- citing security concerns. Later this month, Saudi Arabia will also ban instant messaging between BlackBerrys.

A Saudi official revealed that the move is intended to strong-arm Research-in-Motion, BlackBerry's Ontario-based company, into conceding information, which it has already done for Russia and China. In 2007, RIM provided its encryption keys to a Russian telecommunications agency, which then passed it to the Federal Security Service. A year later, RIM's handset came out in China, but was delayed because the company "needed to satisfy Beijing that its handsets posed no security threat to China's communication networks."

The ban won't be lifted "until these BlackBerry applications are in full compliance with UAE regulations;" and it comes at a time when countries all around the world, are attempting to restrict the many freedoms provided by the Internet.

AFP PHOTO/STR

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Saudi activist jailed for being "annoying"

Posted By David Kenner Monday, July 19, 2010 - 6:41 PM

The House of Saud is living the dream. While most Middle Eastern regimes make up all sorts of excuses for throwing activists who raise inconvenient issues in jail -- "endangering security" and "undermining national unity" are favorites -- the Saudis are admirably honest. Mekhlef bin Daham al-Shammary, a prominent Saudi human rights activist who has been critical of the kingdom's anti-Shiite policies, was jailed on the charge of "annoying others" on June 15.

No, the crime of annoyance does not appear to be written down anywhere in Saudi Arabia. The charges against Shammary may stem from an article he wrote rebuking another columnist for harsh attacks against the Iraqi Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

More than a month after his imprisonment, Shammary still has not been brought before a judge. If he ever is, one can only hope that he is impolite -- perhaps even annoying.

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Mr. Cheney goes to Riyadh -- mysteriously

Posted By David Kenner Monday, May 3, 2010 - 5:48 PM

In a move that is sure to set conspiracy theorists aflutter, former Vice President Dick Cheney popped up yesterday in Saudi Arabia, where he met with King Abdullah. Accompanying him was former State Department diplomat and its top interpreter, Gamal Helal, who recently left the government to form a consulting firm, Helal Associates.

While the Arabic press has caught on to this story, I haven't seen it reported in the U.S. media as of yet. But still, it raises a few eyebrows: Cheney, a private citizen who has reportedly been working on his memoirs, doesn't have any obvious reasons to sit down with the Saudi monarch. The details behind the meeting could go a long way toward unraveling what the former vice president plans to do with his retirement. Here's hoping that the inevitable theorizing about his plans doesn't generate more heat than light.

Saudi Press Agency

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