Saudi Cops Grab U.S. Woman In Starbucks (For Sitting With Man In Coffee Shop)

[sabra]

Source: CBS News

Kingdom's Religious Police Take Her To Jail For Sitting With Man In Coffee Shop


(CBS) An American businesswoman was carted off to jail by religious police in Saudi Arabia for sitting with a male colleague at a Starbucks in Riyadh, the Times of London reported.

The woman, who spent a day behind bars, was strip-searched and forced to sign a false confession before being released, the newspaper said. The Times declined to publish her name at her request.

The 37-year-old businesswoman works for a finance company in Riyadh. Her problem began when her office lost electricity. She and her male colleagues then went to a nearby Starbucks to use the coffee shop's Internet connection.

She sat with a male colleague in the Starbucks' family area, the only place women are allowed to sit with men.

“Some men came up to us with very long beards and white dresses. They asked 'Why are you here together?' I explained about the power being out in our office. They got very angry and told me what I was doing was a great sin,” she told the Times.


Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/07/world/main3800725.shtml

[bullimiami]

1. it just burns me up that these are the kind of 'friends' that our government prefers.

hateful evil bastards. saudi govt and our govt.

[Bonobo]

2. And yet we took out the least religiously-controlled country in the area, Iraq.

Go figure.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

28. because.

that's why.

Can't have anyone stand up to us.

Look at what we are doing to Venezuela. It was just called far more democratic than our govt proclaims, and yet we continue to attack it in many ways.

[bdamomma]

3. Those are George's friends, but why not, don't we usually make friends

with dictators and rogue nations. Sickening

[shain from kane]

4. "... long beards and white dresses." I guess it's OK for Saudis to cross dress. Arrest yourselves.

[ReformedChris]

5. This is getting ridiculous, when you open your "Kingdom" up to world commerce..

You have to expect business brings in diverse cultures. Many cultures outside of that culturally backwards sandbox actually got OUT of the stone age and allow women a free hand in life to seek out their personal/professional dreams. I will always say the way reform will come in the Middle East is with the liberation of woman and the establishment of feminine individuality. It will take a Herculean effort for that to happen, but there has to be a Susan B. Anthony, Rosa Parks, or Martin Luther King out there in the desert to turn that world around for the better.

[wuushew]

6. How many religious police does SA employ?

In order to effectively patrol the streets and most businesses the number would have to be in the tens of thousands.


Are these jobs highly sought after or are they simply taken owing to the lack of other job opportunities in the non-diversified economy of Saudi Arabia?

[boricua79]

7. time for the U.S. government to stand up and defend a U.S. citizen against a violation of her rights

What they did to this woman is an outrage.

They can keep their dirty hands of our citizens!

[Kali]

10. UM you don't get special treatment when you are IN ANOTHER COUNTRY

you go knowing the rules and break them at your own risk.

[IronLionZion]

11. Human rights are NOT a special treatment

So you can't sit with men, fine. But the strip searching and jail time? There's no need for that.

[Gormy Cuss]

12. Yes, and that's one reason why I'll never go to Saudi Arabia.

However, I wonder if these enforcers went to Starbucks hunting for bear because it's a symbol of negative Western influence on the kingdom and this woman was chosen specifically because she was a foreigner.

[JerseygirlCT]

21. Many years ago

I was traveling to Bahrain to see family for Christmas. I had brought along a bottle of liquor for my dad. (Legal in Bahrain, not in SA, of course). Our plane was supposed to stop in Riyadh and then go on to Bahrain. Instead we were all de-planed, and they proceded to check bags. Thank goodness they thoroughly searched my sister's bag (digging through underwear), and then decided to pass on mine. I should also say that at this point, they had taken everyone's passports. I would have been up that proverbial creek, I think. Fortunately, a very nice Korean businessman took us under his wing and explained that it would all be ok.

Still scary to think about, all these years later.

[BreweryYardRat]

23. Bingo! You hit the nail on the head there.

[boricua79]

14. What are western people supposed to do to conduct business

the lady wasn't having an affair. She was communicating with another male about business.

You're apologizing for Saudi Arabian idiocies turned laws is disturbing.

[JerseygirlCT]

22. They shouldn't, IMO

We shouldn't be involved with this regime at all. Do business in Bahrain - at least in the past, they were far more accomodating to western sensibilities. But we simply shouldn't offer them our business, our expertise, our acting as if they're a perfectly acceptable member of world society. I'd prefer we keep our dealings to diplomacy and warn others of the treatment they ought to expect when traveling there.

[boricua79]

25. good point. I agree

let those backward savages run their own economy into the ground.

[Kali]

26. I'm not apologizing for anything.

I take offense at comments like the US government needs to protect the "rights" of US citizens in other countries. You don't have the same rights, period. If you can't follow the rules of the country you are visiting then don't go.

[eib1]

16. An affluent society,

not a modern one.
Who's confounding privileges with rights this time?

[Kali]

27. ?

was that to me? not sure I get what you are saying?

[stanwyck]

20. She was sitting in the femily area

where sitting with men is allowed. What laws did she break?

[Roland99]

8. WMD!

Woman of Massive Desecration

[IronLionZion]

9. Strip searched? What the fuck are they searching her for?

A friend of mine got strip searched by cops in the US looking for drugs. She was wearing a cocktail dress and is quite beautiful. Sometimes you have to admit that women are searched for reasons other than public safety.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

13. The cooties, I suppose. -nt

[eib1]

17. For pleasure, of course.

And her humiliation.

[ohio2007]

15. American Woman Boasted of Saudi Freedoms To Bush Brother Before Arrest at Starbucks

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,329605,00.html

of course, the source is FOX
so.... it may not be true

that'll learn her

[eib1]

18. Let her come to America.

She can sit wherever and with whomever she needs to.
She can get the job done.

[ohio2007]

19. A look at Boston's future for women

Charming Burka - sends a selfportrait via bluetooth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13PDuXjWvSE&eurl=http://hotair.com/archives/2008/02/07/video-checking-out-girls-in-burqas-now-easier-than-ever-before/

LOL

yes, the desent into the dark ages fashion show

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oudKFDpUlQ

[mitchum]

24. Unfortunately, she has now learned one of the pitfalls of cooperating with those medieval curs

I wonder if she will now leave that despotic hellhole