Our Friends the Saudis
The corrupt, obscenely wealthy rulers of Saudi Arabia continue playing Wahhabi bait-and-switch, promising reforms and delivering only more of the same Dark Ages misogyny.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Visitors to a women’s job training center heard terrified screams — and rushed to see an agent of the religious police dragging a woman by her hair down the stairs of the building.
The woman had apparently run for shelter in the center after the religious police caught her alone in a car with a man she is not related to — a violation of Saudi Arabia’s strict gender segregation, one of the visitors, Nasreen Qattan, told the Associated Press.
Under that same segregation, the male agent should not have entered the all-women center — yet he still barged in and grabbed the woman.
The incident a week ago in the holy city of Mecca is the sort of heavy-handed behavior by the kingdom’s Islamic religious police that many Saudis hoped would end after King Abdullah in February appointed a new chief of the force, billed as a reformer.
But so far, there’s been little sign of change, and complaints against the religious police continue.
Frank says: