A Saudi businessman has been sentenced to four months in prison and 200 lashes by barbarians in that country for hosting a mixed concert at his fun park in what the Muslim world calls a “holy city”, that of Mecca.
He was arrested after an argument with agents from the powerful religious police, who ordered him to end the concert, the daily Okaz said, as handed on to us by Austalia’s Courier Mail.
“A court found the man guilty of hindering the work of the agents of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, known as Muttawa,” says the Courier Mail, “and involvement in ‘organising a concert where men and women mix’.”
Ooh. How utterly obscene!
It continues:
The ultra-conservative kingdom applies a strict version of sharia, or Islamic law, which imposes segregation between the sexes.
It is also the only country where women are not allowed to drive, and they have to cover themselves from head to toe while in public.
On a lighter note, there is some small compensation for their not being allowed to drive. At least they can ride a bicycle (or “burcycle”, and the clue is in the word), which allows them to cover up and be on wheels at the same time – courtesy of a sort of mobile shed.
I wrote an article for G&LH recently that covered that – and more besides.
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