COMMENT, Saudi Arabia — Add to the long list of things Saudi women cannot do.
Buy Starbucks with a man.
On that list you could add vote.
Drive a car.
Often, being seen with a man is enough for a woman to be punished.
In this case, a woman was punished for having a coffee at Starbucks in Saudi’s capital, Riyadh, with a male work colleague.
Punished?
Hand-cuffed. Lead away. Strip search. Lock-up. Interrogation.
Who does this if found guilty of un-islamic conduct punishment is barbaric.
We don’t want to westernise Saudi Arabia. I couldn’t care if they had Starbucks. Or if they followed western values, such as they are. Many westerners don’t know even what our values are.
But it is symbolic. The hardliners apply the law inconsistently, in this case harshly.
The problem is a political power-tussle between those who want increased freedoms for women, and the hardliners who do not.
Basic Human Decency
Women need rights that give them basic equality. Drive. Vote. Work.
Keep some conservatism. But women need to basic decency to be treated as human beings.
And for that to happen other countries have to exert pressure on the Saudis.
In a way that understands the local situation.
Before we criticise yet another minor rights issue in New York City, we need to look at the profound lack of rights in the Mid-East.
Women in Saudi Arabia are treated as something less than human.
More at the ABC News USA story: http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=4261213&page=1
Why are we even trading with this country? Oh! that’s right, when it comes to black gold we put aside any real principles.
Says it is Msmlh and lived in Saudi Arabia? Is it does not know the laws of the State Islamic law and legislation? It is better to respect that!!