Category Politics

Succession and Women’s Driving

I don’t know why, but apparently we get a lot of our important decisions made during the last ten days of Ramadhan. Last year it was the new succession law, and this year we got the judiciary reform as well as the fine details of the aforementioned succession law. I guess our government is always inspired by the spirituality of those holy days.

Speaking of the government, I wonder how/if they are going to react to what Fawzia Al-Oyouni, a founding member of the Society for Protecting and Defending Women’s Rights, told Arab New today. She said they are planning to take field trips in markets, shopping malls and hospitals in order to educate as many women as possible and to spread awareness on women’s driving.

Working on the ground, like dating, is a risky business in Saudi Arabia. The public spaces Al-Oyouni talks about, such as markets and malls, are to a degree or another controlled by the infamous religious police. I can’t imagine they would allow anyone else to use these spaces for a cause that they have no sympathy with.

The King has always pledged his commitment to reform. He wants to make sure that his efforts in changing this country would last and the gains won’t be lost soon, and that the changes he is implementing for the good of the nation are solid and permanent. This is an issue where that commitment can be shown again.

Reforms on the Justice System

My recent visit to the United States has consolidated my views on the importance of an independent, transparent and powerful judiciary system for any modern country. That’s why I was very pleased to see that our outcry for a much-needed reform in the justice system in Saudi Arabia has finally reached the King who issued a royal decree to overhaul the whole thing. It is long overdue, probably, but it is here nevertheless, and thank God for that.

The new system is expected to take many of the powers currently possessed by the Higher Judicial Council. Now this is not going to be an easy transition, I think. Sheikh Al Luhaidan and his fellow clerics have been on the top of our judicial system for a long time, and the notion that they will give up their powers peacefully seems unlikely. But let’s hope we won’t see any of the old faces in the new supreme court.

Block, Block, Block

After we got rid of the notorious ISU for good, it seem that now it’s the turn of CITC to prove that idiotic internet censorship is still well and alive in Saudi Arabia. After blocking liberal forums and some small blogs, they have decided to go big this time and block the Guardian Blogs. Probably this has something to do with Al Yamamah scandal, but the BAE investigation file pages where you can find out about the deal are still available. It’s not that they usually have a good reason to block websites in the first place, anyway.

Al Hameds on Trial

My brothers and I went this morning to the court here in Ahssa to finish some regular paper work. It was past 9 AM when we arrived to the court building. We entered the main hall to find a lot of people waiting while the court employees were chitchatting in different corners of their offices. None of the judges has arrived yet, we were told. The employees were sitting doing nothing because they could not turn on their computers. They told us if they turned on their computers the electricity in the building would blackout. (!) We were told to get back on Saturday, not even Wednesday! Some people blamed Amr Al Faisal when he ripped into the Jeddah court. Take that!

So, in what is expected to be yet another mockery in the Saudi legal system, Abdullah Al Hamed and his brother Isa were told to appear in a criminal court in Buraida next Saturday over their involvement in the women’s demonstration that was held in July. “The charge is that they incited the women to stage a sit-in, and tried to break through a security cordon,” Khalid Al Omair, a fellow activist, told AFP. These charges sound dubious, but with a legal system like ours anything can happen.

The only good thing about this rather disturbing piece of news is that the trial would be open to public. It will be a chance for those supporting the reforms to make a statement by showing up at the court on Saturday morning, and hopefully a big crowd would draw the attention of public and media.

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More Women Demonstrate in Qassim

Blogger Khalid al-Nassir has been following the news since today’s afternoon regarding a second women’s demonstration in Qassim. The women were shortly moved to the governate headquarters for negotiation, which ended by detaining the mother of one the detainees. Reuters ran this story about the demonstration and reports that participants in the protest said the women carried placards bearing the image of King Abdullah and others saying “Ministry of Interior, try the detainees legally and openly”.

This is getting more and more intense. In a country where public demonstrations are illegal, two demonstrations during a short period like this should indicate that a significant change is probably taking place. Moreover, both demonstrations occurred in the most ultra-conservative part of the Kingdom. Some argue that these detainees deserve to be where they are, but I think that whether they were innocent or not, they have the right to a public fair trial immediately.

Divide and Conquer

After this, one can’t say he could not see that coming:

The Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice have asked the Municipality of Medina to segregate women from men in a sidewalk in the area behind the maternity hospital. The Commission have noticed mixing of sexes on the location and suggested making another sidewalk for men away from women’s sidewalk, Eng. Mohammed Al Ali, deputy GS of the municipality, told Okaz.

Oh and btw, news agencies have already picked up the news and it’s flying all over the civilized world now. Nice going, lunatics.

More Statements

dostor_logoFollowing the statement issued about ten days ago asking the Human Rights Commission to act regarding the reformists who were detained last February, another group of activists who call for an Islamic constitution and civil society have issued another statement that they plan to send to King Abdullah on September 13th.

The statement has repeated the call to release the reformists or grant them a public trial. It also detailed the justifications for the call, saying these reformists have been involved in peaceful civil action for more than 15 years, which challenges the allegations behind their detention earlier this year.

Moreover, the statement has included some very harsh criticism to the ministry of interior and its approach of dealing with the case. “If MOI possess of evidence that they [the jailed activists] were supporting and financing violence, why do they hesitate to present them for a fair public trial?” the statement asked.

More than 30 persons have signed the statement so far, and and it is now circulating in the hope that more people will sign it before they send it to the King. The current list of signatories included many well-known reformists such as Abdullah al-Hamid, Matruk al-Faleh and Khlaid al-Umrair. Fellow blogger Khalid al-Nassir, one of the signatories, has more on his blog (Arabic).

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