An American businesswoman is fearing for her life after she was arrested for having a coffee with a male workmate in a Starbucks in Saudi Arabia.Yara, a 37-year-old mother-of-three, said she was strip searched and forced to sign false confessions while in custody. A judge then told her she would “burn in hell” before she was released on Feb 4.
She has also been publicly denounced by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, which said her actions violated the country’s sharia law.
A statement posted on the commission’s website said: “It’s not allowed for any woman to travel alone and sit with a strange man and talk and laugh and drink coffee together like they are married.
“All of these are against the law and it’s clear it’s against the law. First, for a woman to work with men is against the law and against religion. Second, the family sections at coffee shops and restaurants are meant for families and close relatives.”
Her husband, who has refused to release the family’s name for fear of reprisals, told the Times that their lives were now in danger. “We are afraid for our lives, for our family and from further harassment,” he said.“The things that they are suggesting about my wife, of course it isn’t true. She’s a professional businesswoman and she was at a café, not at a bar. They are coming up with ways to justify their actions.”
First of all, Yara had to know before she stepped one foot in Saudia Arabia, that it’s a cesspool of Islamic oppression, especially with regard to the treatment of women.
The commission has denied that Yara was strip-searched or forced to sign confessions. It accused her of wearing make-up, not covering her hair and moving around suspiciously while sitting with her Syrian colleague, who was also arrested but later released.
In other words, doing what normal women do in normal societies.
Human rights groups have condemned her arrest, which has also sparked fierce debate within the country.
Yeah, but not a peep out of N.O.W., the U.N., Amnesty International, or the ACLU.
Yara’s family are considering returning to live in America.
Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/20/wcoffee120.xml
Yep, that might be a good idea…..