Monday, February 05, 2007

Saudi Court Orders Lashing, Jail for 20 Foreigners for Drinking, Dancing at Mixed Party

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — A Saudi Arabian judge sentenced 20 foreigners to receive lashes and spend several months in prison after convicting them of attending a party where alcohol was served and men and women danced, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The defendants were among 433 foreigners, including some 240 women, arrested by the kingdom's religious police for attending the party in Jiddah, the state-guided newspaper Okaz said. It did not identify the foreigners, give their nationalities or say when the party took place.

The religious police, a force resented by many Saudis for interfering in personal lives, enjoys wide powers. Its officers roam malls, markets, universities and other public places looking for such infractions as unrelated men and women mingling, men skipping Islam's five daily prayers and women with strands of hair showing from under their veil."

Rosie? Madonna? Jane? Barbara? Both Barbara's? Any Barbara? Nancy? Hillary? Hell, Obama? Nothing to say about this?

Crickets.

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