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Showing posts with the label Saudi Religious Police

The Perils of Eating Fire in Saudi Arabia

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By Nael Shyoukhi RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi artist Maher al-Luqman is always nervous when he goes on stage to eat glass and fire or to walk on nails, for fear the country's religious police will disrupt his show. The leader of a troupe of 12 strongmen, Luqman struggles for acceptance in a country whose austere version of Sunni Islam means that many forms of entertainment and unusual feats of strength are sometimes seen as sorcery. "They have stopped us for two years, branding us as sorcerers, and calling for people to fight us and report us," Luqman, 35, told Reuters. Bearded religious policemen roam the streets of the Gulf Arab kingdom of 25 million people to enforce gender segregation, search for drugs and alcohol and to stop behavior they consider immoral. The Saudi government is trying to promote internal tourism but its efforts are complicated by restrictions on singing, dancing and mixing of unrelated men and women enforced by a powerful religious establishment. Publ...

Saudi Princess to Religious Police

 "Loosen your grip on the population and fight government corruption" In her column in the government daily  Al-Madina , Saudi Princess Basma bint Saud attacked the Saudi religious police, accusing it of instituting religious terrorism. She claimed that it operates savagely against ordinary civilians instead of dealing with the corruption within the government. The column provoked reactions in Saudi Arabia , and was widely discussed on Internet forums. Princess Basma is a social activist and a prominent supporter of women's issues in Saudi Arabia . Recently, in an extraordinary step, Basma was photographed with her face unveiled for an interview with  Al-Madina . Also, counter to the custom among Saudi princesses, she married a man who is not a member of the royal family Following is the translation of her column: [1] "I Have Searched the Annals of History... And I Have Not Found a Trace of the Term 'Authority for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice...