October 29, 2008: Newsletter

 
Subject: October 29, 2008: Newsletter
Date: October 29th 2008

Mickey Mouse must die

Director’s Comment: While the world is going through a challenging economic, social, political and religious transformative period, the Saudi self-appointed “religious” men work hard to avoid any change. Innovation is Bedah (novelty), therefore contradictory to the pure Saudi culture and an antithesis to the teachings of Islam, which these men interpret and apply to maintain control over people’s lives. According to these men, whatever the situation may be, the West is to blame for all that is morally, socially and economically wrong and decadent. A rash of Fatawa (plural of Fatwa) has been unleashed by unregulated constellations of religious men, whose religious authority is unrestricted and cannot be questioned or challenged without risking accusation of apostasy, which is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia specifically, but also in most Muslim countries.

First, dog owners were condemned, then kittens were considered threats to Saudi moral stand and gender segregation, and now rats are being condemned, particularly Mickey Mouse. Never in its recent history has Saudi Arabia been more threatened by domestic and external factors than at the present. Yet, the Saudi self-declared religious cult, supported by the ruling elites to intimidate people, is using communication, mosques and schools to condemn kittens, dogs, and rats, and to declare that TV owners who air anything that contradicts Islamic teachings and values must be put to death. Due to high censorship, the absence of independent civil society and free press, and the forbidding of non-religious debates in Saudi Arabia, people have been forced to resort to rigid theocrats to interpret life and all matters related to it.
Read More



Busy Chopping Squares

Director’s Comment: Beheadings in Saudi Arabia used to be saved for Saudi citizens. They were designed to create incapacitating and omnipresent fear in people’s hearts in order to remind them of what’s awaiting those amongst them who might contemplate undermining the royals’ control over every aspect of their lives. This is evidenced by the method of executions. Convicted victims, under the arbitrary Shariah law, are paraded to the chopping squares all over the country, where Friday worshippers have been herded to witness the cruelty of the state’s punishment practices. The convicted victims are hooded by police, in front of worshippers, family, friends and other onlookers, then asked to kneel and wait for the state’s executioner to swing his sword and decapitate their heads.

Recently, non-Western expatriates have been subject to the same cruelty faced by Saudi citizens since the Saudi-Wahhabi allies’ ascendance to power many decades ago. Many of the beheaded expatriates come from countries were beheadings rarely happen or do not happen at all. The message here is that the Saudi system does not recognize any form of rehabilitation for anyone regardless of one’s state of mind, circumstances, age or gender. Ironically, crimes in Saudi Arabia have never been deterred by severing criminals’ heads in the public chopping squares. On the contrary, crimes are increasing steadily and intensely. So why continue this most savage practice? To remind the Saudi citizens of who is in charge of their lives and fates.
Read More



Imams (clerics) fail their duties?

Director’s Comment: In a press conference recently, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Naif blamed the preachers in mosques for not fulfilling their obligations: Protecting Saudi youth from falling victim to religious extremists. This is a very perplexing pronouncement. Prince Naif controls the religious clerics he blames for failing to instruct Saudis and other Muslims against religious extremism and intolerance of Muslim minorities and non-Muslims. Prince Naif is known for his staunch and uncompromising opposition to the transformation of Saudi education and religious institutions, wherein young Saudis are religiously brainwashed into believing that other religions are inferior. The men in charge of these institutions are the same clerics Prince Naif blames for religious extremism and its byproduct, terrorism, which is endangering the world, including his family’s domain, Saudi Arabia.

Prince Naif controls the ferocious Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the interpreter and enforcer of religious intolerance. Not only does he control these cult-like zealot men, but he uses them to intimidate the population. He has made it known that this extremist group, opposed to modernity, women’s rights, minorities and democratic reforms, will exist as long as “Islam is in on earth” and his family rules Saudi Arabia. This is the most unpopular governmental policy in Saudi Arabia. Most Saudis, including members of the royal family, such as prince Talal, Prince Khalid, governor of Mecca, Prince Bandar, former Saudi Ambassador to Washington, Prince Al-Waleed, influential businessman and many others, would like to see the power of the religious establishment drastically reduced, restricted or eliminated all together. Naif is going against the national consensus with regards to the excessive abuse of power by his religious extremists. He would benefit the country, his family and the world by dissolving this group and sending them to earn a living and reduce the country’s dependence on expatriate laborers.
Read More



One Eye for Women is the Answer

Director’s Comment: According to the Saudi self-appointed religious interpreters of all matters concerning women, Saudi women should completely be cloaked except for one eye. Obsessed with women’s sexuality, the Saudi clerics feel that if women show two eyes, they would trick men into thinking the most objectionable and sinful thoughts. According to Saudi clerics, women were created to corrupt and mislead men into committing forbidden acts, which could only lead to the creation of a weak, backward, corrupt and confused society. Isn’t this society what the Saudi clerics and their handlers have created? Read More



Saudi-Taliban Connections

Director’s Comment: The Saudi Foreign Minister, Saud Al-Faisal, confirmed that his government hosted a meeting between the Afghani government and the Taliban forces recently. This disclosure raises intriguing if not serious questions. Has the Saudi government maintained friendly relations with the Taliban after the US dealt it a mortifying defeat (in October 2001) for allowing Al-Qaeda to reside, train and plan its deadly 9/11 attack? If this is the case, wouldn’t the US government know that its so called ally in fighting terrorism, the Saudi government, is cuddling with Mullah Mohammed Omar, the closest ally of Osama bin Laden? Or have the Saudis extracted a concession (not to talk about democratic reforms in Saudi Arabia or dictate an Israeli-Palestinian agreement) from the US government in return for the Saudi service to re-establish contacts with its former ally, the Taliban, and convince them to stop their attacks on the coalition troops in Afghanistan, and share power with the Afghani government? The Saudis did the same thing in Iraq during the “surge.” They instructed their Iraqi minority Sunni allies to halt their attacks on the coalition troops, work with the Americans to stabilize Iraq, and in turn have major decision making power. Whether in Iraq, Afghanistan or Israel-Palestine, the Saudis want to ensure their influence through their proxies, such as Hamas, the Taliban and the Sunni minority in Iraq. Read More



The Forever Vincible Saudis and the next President of the United States

Director’s Comment: Due to the frightful absence of accountability, transparency, public scrutiny, free press and visionary leadership, the Saudi ruling elites keep repeating the same mistakes that could be avoided had they only put the people’s interest first. If they had done so, they would have learned a stark lesson from the mismanagement of public wealth in the 1970s-80s. After the 1973 oil embargo against the West, the oil price leaped from $3 per barrel to $11.65 in one year1. This unprecedented jump in oil prices brought sudden riches to Saudi Arabia, which, at the time, was ruled by a frugal and uncompromising autocratic ruler, King Faisal. For the first time in the country’s history, a budget of $140 billion was announced. Read More



Instability in Process

Director’s Comment: The Saudi regime has constantly reminded its captive citizens of how lucky they are to be living in a secure, stable and peaceful environment where Islam was born and where its shrines reside. Some officials continue to praise the Saudi regime, even though the country has never been more unstable than at the present. This instability is due to many internal and external factors, such as the public’s unmet aspirations, expectations, high unemployment among the youth, women’s demands for their rights, and the empowerment of religious extremists by the royal family. This has been a trend in Saudi Arabia, especially after the occupation of the Holy Mosque in Mecca in 1979, by religious zealots whose objective was to overthrow the House of Saud and run the country their extremist way. They almost succeeded in toppling the regime, but did not thanks to external help, especially from the French Legionnaire. A staggering number (more than 2,000) of captured terrorists or terrorists to be have been imprisoned and interrogated at the Saudi Ministry of Interior, and are now being handed over to the Saudi Shariah (Islamic Law) courts to be sentenced for their alleged crimes. It is not only Saudi terrorists, but terrorists from other Arab and Muslim countries who seem to be determined to destabilize Saudi Arabia and its ruling family. This may prove much harder to stop, let alone eradicate, because non-Saudis could recruit from their countries and enter Saudi Arabia to cause havoc. Read More




Join Us:

The Center for Democracy & Human Rights in Saudi Arabia (CDHR) is a non-profit 501(c) (3) organization based in Washington DC. CDHR provides timely, accurate and new information for the benefit of the public, the business community and policy makers about the current situation in Saudi Arabia. CDHR’s goal is to help bring about a peaceful democratic transition from one family autocratic rule to a participatory political system where all Saudi citizens’ rights are protected under the rules of civil laws.

The Center could not undertake this important task without the active support of visionary individuals and foundations. CDHR needs the support of people who understand the importance of building a united, prosperous and tolerant society in Saudi Arabia where people are empowered to determine their destiny and the fate of their important, but unstable country. Please visit our website (www.cdhr.info) to learn about our work and see what you might do to support the many Saudi men and women reformers who risk their livelihood and lives to promote a political system that promotes justice and rejects all forms of incitements, religious hate and oppression at home and abroad.

Your financial investment in democracy building in Saudi Arabia will benefit the Saudi people, the Middle East, the Muslim world, and the international community. Your contribution will make a difference and is greatly appreciated.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions you may have about our mission and what you can do to promote a non-sectarian, accountable and transparent political system in Saudi Arabia where all citizens are treated equally under the rules of civil laws.

Contact Us:

The Center for Democracy & Human Rights in Saudi Arabia
1050 17th Street NW, Suite 1000
Washington DC, 20036-USA

Phone: (202) 558-5552, (202) 413-0084

Fax: (202) 536-5210

Email: cdhr@PROTECTED

Website: www.cdhr.info

You may automatically unsubscribe from this list at any time by visiting the following URL:

http://www.cdhr.info/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/u/[list]/

If the above URL is inoperable, make sure that you have copied the entire address. Some mail readers will wrap a long URL and thus break this automatic unsubscribe mechanism.

If you're still having trouble, please contact the list owner at:

newsletter@PROTECTED

Mailing List Powered by Dada Mail

  • This mailing list is a public mailing list - anyone may join or leave, at any time.
  • This mailing list is announce-only.

The listserv for The Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia

Privacy Policy:

Any and all information given to CDHR is strictly confidential and shall not be disclosed to any other party for any reason.