Shortly before dawn on Friday, Saudi security forces raided a “satanist ceremony” (i.e. a rock concert) at a private residential compound in Riyadh.

A number of Saudis, Syrians and others were arrested (it is not known how many) and all the equipment was seized, including cameras and computer equipment, according to the Lojainiat website. The website’s report has a series of pictures taken before the raid.

It seems the authorities got wind of the event from this flyer:

Although Wahhabis reject all forms of music, heavy metal music is often associated with devil-worship in Arab countries. There have been previous high-profile cases in Morocco, Egypt and Lebanon.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 1 August 2009