Court of Embarrassment

Not so long ago, criticizing the judiciary was a taboo in this country. But with more people learning more about their rights and finding new outlets to express their dissatisfaction, they began to clearly show their impatience with the performance of the justice system. The system has become a battlefield between reformers who demanded change and conservatives who defended the judges fiercely, arguing that since their verdicts are based on Sharia then they should be unquestionable.

Luckily for the rest of us though, the complaints did not fall on deaf ears. In October 2007, King Abdullah announced a $2bn plan to overhaul the legal system. It is a large undertaking and it will certainly take a long time to see the effects of this plan. The resistance of the old guard in the system will only make this process slower and more difficult. But one of the good immediate effects of this plan is that it has placed the judges under increased scrutiny. The past two years have witnessed a number of high profile cases that attracted much attention from people and the media, not just in Saudi Arabia but around the world.

I think that last week’s case in Onaiza, where a court rejected a divorce petition filed by the mother of a an eight-year-old girl whose father married her to a 58-year-old man, should be seen in that context. Sure, the verdict is outrageous and unfair, but hey, this is the K of SA, a country where judges are not tied to written laws and justice is a subjective matter that pretty much depends on their whims. Does Sheikh Habib al-Habib know that his government has singed the international Convention on the Rights of the Child since 1996? I don’t think he does, and I think he does not care because such international laws are made by mere mortals while he probably believes that he is applying God’s laws.

Abdullah Al-Jutaili, the lawyer representing the girl’s divorced mother, said he was going to appeal the verdict. Let’s hope judges at the appeals court will be wiser than their colleague here when they deal with this case that not only exemplified the kind of injustices the people of this country have to go through when their misfortunate leads them to a court, but also further tarnished the already distorted image of Saudi Arabia in the world.

Blogging or Bragging?

070709_tech_karaoketnIt is extremely saddening how some of us were so brainwashed that they reached a stage where even the most basic human rights have become alien to them. Al-Riyadh daily asked their readers earlier this week about blogging and if blogs are a medium for spreading ideas and sharing opinions or simply a place for bragging and showing off. So freedom of expression is bragging now? *sigh*

Too Many Holy Cows

When I read this article from the New York Times on teasing, I was reminded with an incident that occurred on my last class before the Eid holiday…

Instead of speaking about the class topic, hospital pharmacy, our teacher began with a comment on the low attendance and how we, as Saudis, do not show enough commitment to science and education. He talked for a few minutes about his experience as a college student in the UK, and then continued to criticize those who undermine the achievements of the West simply because they are “infidels.” At lest those infidels have contributed something to humanity, he added. He asked: what did we contribute to the world? What did Najd contribute to the world?

I was sitting at the end of the left side of the classroom. When the teacher asked that question, I jokingly said: “terrorism?”

Some students laughed, while others did not take my remark very well. They looked at me angrily and said: what the hell do you mean? The teacher ignored what happened and finished what he was saying. As soon as he finished, one of the angry students asked for a chance to speak. He repeated his question to me about what did I mean by saying “terrorism.” Before I was able to respond, the teacher said “let’s not talk about this,” and he moved to talk about something else. In one hand I was ready to answer and wished that the teacher would give me the chance, but on the other hand I understood the teacher’s position in trying to avoid what could result in a heated debate.

After the class, I was standing with some friends in the hallway talking about our plans for the Eid holiday when I heard someone shouting my surname from the other end of the hallway. I looked at the source of the sound, and sure enough, it was one of the angry students. He asked the same question: what did you mean by what you said? I told him it was just a joke, and I’m sorry if it was insensitive or anyone felt offended, but it certainly was not my intention to offend.

That was not enough for him. He repeated the same question, followed by another one: how dare you insult my region and my people? I told him again it was a joke and no offense was intended. He was not convinced and kept raising his voice. I told him, look, although this was just a joke, but it didn’t come from nowhere, and I’m willing to discuss this with you if you want.

He did not seem to understand. I told him: well, I think that terrorism that invaded the world and our own country in recent years is linked to the ideology that came out of Najd. That enraged him even more, but one of his friends pulled him away while he was still shouting and repeating the same things on how dare I talk like that about his region and now his religion.

The drama was over, but later some of my classmates who happen to know me better told me that they get the joke but alas they did not agree with me on linking terrorism to Wahhabism. I was surprised how they firmly refused to admit that at least some of the Wahhabi teachings can be considered extreme and call for hate of the other. We agreed to disagree and left it there.

I thought that we rarely get to discuss politics and religion in class, but once in a blue moon you get a chance like this and you are shocked by how shallow, chauvinistic and politically ignorant your fellow students can be. One week later I was reading the book Kingdom Without Boarders when I found this piece by Madawi al-Rasheed: “Saudis not only reject the term Wahhabiyya, but also argue that linking it to terrorism is a false accusation based on jahl (ignorance of religion in Saudi Arabia).” I guess then that I should not have been surprised.

Google Introduces Hijri Calendar

Dates, not that kind of dates and not the ones you can eat, can be confusing in Saudi Arabia because we use two calendars: the Hijri and the Gregorian. Since our country boasts itself as the bastion of Islam, the official calendar used by the government is the Hijri calendar. But since the Hijri calendar is lunar and the religious establishment here refuses to accept any other mean of moon sighting except the naked eye, this has led to some unpredictability and controversy over the years, especially when it comes to announcing the start of Ramadhan, Eid or Hajj.

Writer Mohammed Hasan Alwan captured this duality in his latest novel, where one of the characters complained: “That’s what makes time passing heavier on us, to live in a country that uses two calendars to audit its accounts. Why? A Hiri year, and a Gregorian year, and the year ends twice, and life ends twice.” The new Hijri calendar introduced by Google might not solve the problem of Mohammed Hasan Alwan’s character, but it should help the rest of us to avoid some confusion when it comes to organizing our life around two calendars. You can enable the Hijri calendar by going to the calendar settings and select the desired calendar from the drop down box next to “Alternate calendar”.

Rants from Beirut

Sorry about the hiatus. I’m back in town after a few days in Beirut, and No, I wasn’t there to enjoy the Eid break. I was invited by the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) to participate at the 3rd Arab Free Press Forum. I was a speaker at last year’s event and I had a good time there. This year, my friend Fouad al-Farhan was invited to speak on a discussion panel on the changing face of Arab blogging. Unfortunately, Fouad was stopped at Jeddah airport and was told that he is banned from leaving the country.

I was in Riyadh airport preparing to take my plane to Beirut when I received the disturbing news which made me upset. What happened to Fouad reminded me with other good people in this country also banned from traveling despite what they have contributed to this nation. People who sacrificed their freedom to promote free speech, human rights and justice. It is truly sad that such people are treated this way, especially in these times that carried the signs of reform and hope for a better future.

However, Saudi Arabia was not alone in this shameful act. Syria and Tunisia followed suit by banning two journalists and a human rights activist from traveling to attend the event. In his opening remarks, Timothy Balding, CEO of WAN, thanked the authorities of Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Syria for this eloquent and timely demonstration of their contempt for, and fear of, free expression. Of course this is not surprising. According to the latest Annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index released by RSF, the three countries ranked 143, 161 and 159 out of 173.

Now coming to the forum’s sessions, the first one dealt with new tactics used by governments and the judiciary to impede and sanction the independent press. In his introduction, the moderator described these new tactics as oblique or subtle. But Ibrahim Essa, editor-in-chief of Al Dastour daily in Egypt refused such description, saying the Arab governments are not cleaver enough to employ such tactics. “I think Arab governments are stupid and repressive and they don’t need to resort to oblique tactics. Our governments don’t need to resort to oblique tactics because they are blunt,” he added.

The second session, on which Fouad was supposed to speak, focused on the Arab blogging scene. Interestingly, and maybe not surprisingly, the three presenters are all living and writing from outside their countries. Syrian blogger Mohammed al-Abdullah talked about restrictions on the internet in his country and the evolution of the Syrian blogosphere. He said the bloggers have become a source of information for Syrian citizens, despite all the constraints and obstacles for even just being on the internet. Mohammed left Syria after being arrested twice and facing a third arrest (his father and brother are both in jail).

Sami Ben Gharbia, as usual, was awesome. He talked about Tunisia’s sophisticated internet blocking apparatus, and how bloggers and activists have used Web 2.0 technologies to find and use innovative ways around the system.

But I have to say that it was Kizzie Shawkat, the blogger from Sudan, that I felt I could relate to her story the most. Kizzie started blogging because she had no venue to express her opinion, but quickly found herself in a role where she was providing a view of her country from a different perspective from official sources. I agree with her that blogging has become an important forum for social activism, and I think this could lead the way for other kinds of activism in the future. “You have to allow people to express themselves and we’re not used to doing that,” she concluded.

While the third discussion panel of the day that addressed editorial policies, trends and innovations in Arab newsrooms was not particularly interesting to me, the first day of the conference ended with much drama as four Tunisian government officials interrupted the presentation of a new report by the Tunisia Monitoring Group about the lack of freedom in Tunisia. The Tunisian officials broke into a shouting match with the speakers and other attendees who found themselves quite amused by those officials who shamelessly embarrassed themselves.

The second day of the conference had only one panel which discussed the business of newspaper publishing in the Arab World. Later on the day, we witnessed the ceremony of the Gebran Tueni Award. This year’s prize was handed out to Ibrahim Essa, who was recently pardoned by his country’s president, but still facing 32 lawsuits.

Away from the conference, and although Fouad’s travel ban left a dark shadow on the trip, it was as always good to be back to Beirut and meet friends and fellow bloggers. The city was filled with tourists and visitors, many of them Saudis, but I avoided hanging out in their favourite spots. I want to thank my friend Buthaina for taking me to the Comedy Night show, where Mario Bassil and his colleagues entertained us for more than 2 hours and made fun of almost every single Lebanese politician. I want also to thank my friend Alex for the good times, especially at Club Sociale in Gemayzie where we enjoyed a lovely performances by Hiba Mansouri and Zeid Hamdan aka shift Z.

Finally, I want to leave you with this interesting column (Arabic) by Yahia al-Ameer. He argues that what makes Beirut attractive to Saudis is not its touristic spots like Raouche, Solider or Aley but rather the freedom, diversity and individuality they can touch here, which represents a stark contrast to the conformity of their society. You think this is the case? Discuss.