Saudi-Arabia tries to ban Valentine's Day

[chitoryu12]

I thought Singapore was bad...

Note: Due to a computer error, I am unable to post a quote from the article at the moment, so I will be posting it immediatly after I post this.[/quote]

[Admiral Valdemar]

Much as I hate that day, I don't think I'd go that far. But hey, our favourite buddy-buddy theocratic hellhole can do that for me.

[[R_H]]

Here's the article that chitoryu12 linked to

(CNN) -- Saudi Arabia has asked florists and gift shops to remove all red items until after Valentine's Day, calling the celebration of such a holiday a sin, local media reported Monday.

"As Muslims we shouldn't celebrate a non-Muslim celebration, especially this one that encourages immoral relations between unmarried men and women, " Sheikh Khaled Al-Dossari, a scholar in Islamic studies, told the Saudi Gazette, an English-language newspaper.

Every year, officials with the conservative Muslim kingdom's Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice clamp down on shops a few days before February 14, instructing them to remove red roses, red wrapping paper, gift boxes and teddy bears. On the eve of the holiday, they raid stores and seize symbols of love.

The virtue and vice squad is a police force of several thousand charged with, among other things, enforcing dress codes and segregating the sexes. Saudi Arabia, which follows a strict interpretation of Islam called Wahhabism, punishes unrelated women and men who mingle in public.

Ahmed Al-Omran, a university student in Riyadh, told CNN that the government decision will give the international media another reason to make fun of the Saudis "but I think that we got used to that by now."

"I think what they are doing is ridiculous," said Al-Omran, who maintains the blog 'Saudi Jeans.' "What the conservatives in this country need to learn is something called 'tolerance.' If they don't see the permissibility of celebrating such an occasion, then fine -- they should not celebrate it. But they have to know they have no right to impose their point of view on others."

Because of the ban on red roses, a black market has flowered ahead of Valentine's Day. Roses that normally go for five Saudi riyal ($1.30) fetch up to 30 riyal ($8) on February 14, the Saudi Gazette said.

"Sometimes we deliver the bouquets in the middle of the night or early morning, to avoid suspicion," one florist told the paper.

Saudi Arabia has often come under criticism for its treatment of women, most recently in a United Nations report that blasted the kingdom for widespread discrimination. Under Saudi law, women are subject to numerous restrictions, including a prohibition against driving and a requirement that they get a man's permission to travel or have surgery.

A businesswoman told the Times of London this month that she was detained and strip-searched by the religious police for holding a meeting in a coffee shop with male colleagues.

Two years ago, a teenager was raped by seven men who found her alone with a man unrelated to her. The government sentenced the 19-year-old woman to 200 lashes and six months in prison for being in the company of a man who wasn't a family member or her husband. She was later pardoned. The seven rapists were sentenced to two to nine years in prison.

[Shroom Man 777]

For some reason, this makes me think that there could be a vast majority of Saudis who don't want any of this crazy conservative fundamentalist religious crap, but are too frightened to speak out due to the sheer power of the entrenched fundamentalist nutsos - and due to the apathy or callousness of the older generation.

I love how globalization allows for Western cultures and liberal ideals to seep into even the most insular societies, in order to create change and shit.

To change the place for the better, there won't be a need for bombs. Just whittle away at their society little by little. Eventually the fundies and rich decadent assholes will lose power...well, hopefully.

[Rye]

I don't know how TV reporters don't just slap their scripts on the desk and say "FOR GOD'S SAKE!" when reporting anything about Saudi Arabia nowadays. I've never known a government so concerned with ridding any and all fun. Even Soviet Russia and the Reich had vodka and dancing.

[[R_H]]

I don't know how TV reporters don't just slap their scripts on the desk and say "FOR GOD'S SAKE!" when reporting anything about Saudi Arabia nowadays. I've never known a government so concerned with ridding any and all fun. Even Soviet Russia and the Reich had vodka and dancing.

Damn infidel, that's not true!! Us religious policemen have a lot of fun, like forcing illiterate women to fingerprint a confession for being a witch

Human Rights Watch has appealed to Saudi Arabia to halt the execution of a woman convicted of witchcraft.

In a letter to King Abdullah, the rights group described the trial and conviction of Fawza Falih as a miscarriage of justice.

The illiterate woman was detained by religious police in 2005 and allegedly beaten and forced to fingerprint a confession that she could not read.

Among her accusers was a man who alleged she made him impotent.

Human Rights Watch said that Ms Falih had exhausted all her chances of appealing against her death sentence and she could only now be saved if King Abdullah intervened.


'Undefined' crime

The US-based group is asking the Saudi ruler to void Ms Falih's conviction and to bring charges against the religious police who detained her and are alleged to have mistreated her.

Its letter to King Abdullah says the woman was tried for the undefined crime of witchcraft and that her conviction was on the basis of the written statements of witnesses who said that she had bewitched them.

Human Rights Watch says the trial failed to meet the safeguards in the Saudi justice system.

The confession which the defendant was forced to fingerprint was not even read out to her, the group says.

Also Ms Falih and her representatives were not allowed to attend most of the hearings.

When an appeal court decided she should not be executed, the law courts imposed the death sentence again, arguing that it would be in the public interest.

What a lovely country.

[TithonusSyndrome]

If there's a better example of what becomes of a nation when religious principles are enshrined as the source of all morals and don't have to answer to secular ethics, I can't think of a better one than Saudi Arabia. All the mealymouthed apologists who talk about "progress" within their religion or how "today's church" is all lovey-dovey and pretty much consists of priests pointing to the one line in the Bible where Jesus says "love thy neighbor" and saying "SEE SEE THE BIBLE IS A LOVING BOOK SEE SEE DON'T LOOK AT ANY OTHER PAGES" over and over sicken me.

[Starglider]

I love how globalization allows for Western cultures and liberal ideals to seep into even the most insular societies, in order to create change and shit.

To change the place for the better, there won't be a need for bombs. Just whittle away at their society little by little. Eventually the fundies and rich decadent assholes will lose power...well, hopefully.

It's a good thing most Americans don't believe in that euro-communist 'soft power' nonsense, as if they did margins for your precious defence contractors could be severely impacted!

[ray245]

I thought Singapore was bad...

Note: Due to a computer error, I am unable to post a quote from the article at the moment, so I will be posting it immediatly after I post this.

[/quote]

Singapore? What does singapore has to do with banning of valentine's day?

[chitoryu12]

I thought Singapore was bad...

Note: Due to a computer error, I am unable to post a quote from the article at the moment, so I will be posting it immediatly after I post this.

Singapore? What does singapore has to do with banning of valentine's day?[/quote]

In case you forget, Singapore is strict to the point of parody is some cases (such as banning chewing gum). I was comparing it to Saudi Arabia because both issue rather ridiculous regulations.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

In case you forget, Singapore is strict to the point of parody is some cases (such as banning chewing gum). I was comparing it to Saudi Arabia because both issue rather ridiculous regulations.

Last I checked, Rudy Guiliani took quite a few pages out of Singapore's book...

[ray245]

I thought Singapore was bad...

Note: Due to a computer error, I am unable to post a quote from the article at the moment, so I will be posting it immediatly after I post this.

Singapore? What does singapore has to do with banning of valentine's day?

In case you forget, Singapore is strict to the point of parody is some cases (such as banning chewing gum). I was comparing it to Saudi Arabia because both issue rather ridiculous regulations.[/quote]

Which is funny though. Because from what I remember, the law states that people are not allowed to sell chewing gums, not chew them.

In fact, most singaporeans have chew gums in singapore before, thanks to their neighbour malyasia.

But, we are not that insane as compared to the Arabs. We don't arrest people due to them celebrating valentine's day.

Yes, singapore is pretty paronoid with maintaining rules and etc, but we are not that insane.

Moreover, didn't the US government tolerate Saudi Arabia purely due to them having large amount of oil?