I have read the Arabic version of the Reuters story, and the translation sucks. As I’ve said yesterday, the reporter published the story before receiving my answers, so everything about me in the story is actually derived from my earlier posts. Just to make things clear: OCSAB did not officially invite me to join them. I met with the founder, but I did not buy his argument. They did not link to my blog from their website, and they did not ask me for anything.

I can’t believe I still get crap over this OCSAB thing. I don’t want to go and deconstruct the whole thing because wallah I’m so sick of it. I want to ask though: are we now in the phase of personal attack? I can understand that this guy is attacking me because I’m Shiite, which is true and I’m so proud of at the moment, but attacking Farah and her upbringing is not acceptable.

Reuters has a story on blogging in Saudi Arabia. The story has quotes by Raed al-Saeed, Farooha, and me. The reporter contacted me for this story, but he published it before I was able to reply to him, so he used a part from one of my posts. The story says that the Religious Policeman did not comment on OCSAB, which is not true.

But for me, there are two things that I find interesting: a) OCSAB are seeking financial backing from the government, and b) what al-Saeed said on “that there is some ethics of blogging.” I don’t know how these guys are thinking, but to ask for money from the government? Really? That simply means you are not independent anymore. Who wants to sacrifice his independence and credibility for some riyals? And now to the ethics part, I have only one thing to say here: Seriously? Don’t let me get into that, because these guys are the last people to talk about ethics. Maybe they can use the money they will get from the government to buy some ethics.

UPDATE: Raed al-Saeed reacts to the story, and says the reporter has misquoted him. I wonder why, for some reason, people always fail to undertand these guys. I also wonder what kind of claims he is talking about.

Check out the latest episode of JameedKast. It is not hilarious, but funny enough to waste 20 minutes of your not-so-precious time. I liked it when they were messing with Roba, asking her what she thinks of some footballers and third-class singers, and she had no idea what they were talking about. (Arabic)

To my surprise, Gainan Al Ghamdi, a columnist for Al Watan, has written about the Ameena case. He says this case should not be overlooked due to the fact that Ameena is Shiite, because such cases have a negative effect on our national unity. (Arabic)

Many people in Saudi Arabia have probably heard the story of Ammena Al Maskeen, a Shiite 19-year-old female student at KSU who was attacked by the religious police in an awful incident. If you have not read/heard about this, here is the (short) story…

On April 27, 2006, Ameena was waiting near the gates of the females campus, when two men from the religious police attacked her and forced her into their car. She was taken to a nearby center of the religious police. They held her for several hours, and then sent her to something called the girls’ penitentiary. Later, her family arrived and took her home.

The story above has two different versions; one from Rasid, a Shiite news website, and another one from Al Sahat, an extreme Wahhabi website.

Rasid claims they have contacted the girl, and on their website they are reporting the story by her words. She says what happened to her was set up by a Sunni girl who pretended to be her best friend. That girl was cooperating with the religious police to plot a conspiracy against her, so they could come and take her. While in the car, the two men abused Ameena physically and verbally. She was locked in the bathroom of the religious police center, and she received many fake charges there, and later when she was sent to the the girls’ penitentiary.

Meanwhile, a member of Al Sahat said that Rasid are lying. He says that he called a member of the religious police who told him the following: Ammena has come to the campus with a young man, and when he tried to drop her off, the religious police arrested both of them, and took them to their nearest center. The girl was then sent to the the girls’ penitentiary, and the man to the police station. He added that the girl was treated “like any other girl that gets arrested by the religious police,” which I suppose means she was treated properly.

When I first read this story on Rasid, I did not want to post about it here because I wanted to make sure it was true. But after reading that thread on Al Sahat, I was convinced the story is true. Now, the question is: which version should I believe? Maybe Rasid have some bias against Wahhabis, just like Al Sahat have a bias against almost everybody other than Wahhabis. However, the Rasid version of the story is stronger, and makes much more sense to me. They have reported the full name of the girl and provided many details, while, on the other hand, the Al Sahat thread did not even name the member of the religious police who told the other version of the story.

History is not on the side of the religious police here. The past few years have witnessed many incidents on which the brutality and ruthlessness of their members was unforgettable, and some of these stories has even made it to the local press, breaking a taboo on publishing such stories in the past. Ameena’s story deserves to be on the front pages of newspapers, but I don’t think that would happen, because her story has a sectarian aspect and most newspapers will avoid getting into that area.

Ameena is now back at home and safe with her family in Saihat, a city in Qateef in the eastern province. She has told Rasid she does not want to comeback to Riyadh, even if she had to sacrifice her education.

Two appearances of religious minorities in Saudi Arabia in the American media this week: Shiites in the LA Times, and Sufis in the Washington Post.