Archive: saudi arabia
26th May 2010
Saudi employers have found a new way to dispose of Nepalese housemaids when they become surplus to requirements: by dumping them at the gates of the Nepalese embassy. Arab News has the details.
Posted by Brian Whitaker, 26 May 2010.
25th May 2010
A brief update on the case of the Filipina maid in Saudi Arabia who complained that she had been repeatedly raped by her employer over a period of three years.
Arab News reports that she will shortly be repatriated but the rape charges against her employer will be dropped.
Following a meeting at a… Read more
23rd May 2010
The emo phenomenon has raised its head again in the Saudi city of Dammam. Ten girls were arrested by the religious police for wearing strange clothes and disturbing customers in a coffee shop.
They are said to have been dressed in dark colours and "trying to imitate men". DPA reports:
"The girls… Read more
21st May 2010
In Saudi Arabia, 1,600 women have signed an open letter supporting the kingdom's ban on gender mixing.
"Women are like sweets. If you keep them out in the open ... then nobody will take them. On the other hand, if you cover them then everybody will like them," one of the letter's supporters tells … Read more
18th May 2010
Saudi police are investigating a complaint by a Filipina maid that she was repeatedly raped over a period of three years by her employer in Taif. It is the second such case in less than a week. Arab News reports.
Posted by Brian Whitaker, 18 May 2010.
16th May 2010
It's probably now only a matter of time before women are allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia. Today's Arab News reports on a TV debate of the issue, broadcast on the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya channel.
Although the question of women driving in the kingdom has been much discussed over the years, the… Read more
10th May 2010
Health authorities in the holy city of Madina are investigatingallegations of nepotism and fraud at the King Fahd hospital.
One senior official at the hospital is accused of appointing his nephew to fill a vacancy; another is accused of using fraudulent means to get his son and two nephews employed… Read more
7th May 2010
Today's Arab News has an interview with Sir William Patey, who has just moved to Afghanistan after three years as Britain's ambassador to Saudi Arabia. The kingdom is changing, he says, and for the first time in ages it has a sovereign and group of senior people who are thinking long-term: “They… Read more
30th April 2010
A woman in Riyadh was stopped by police earlier this week and questioned about her legal status, Arab News reports:
They learned that she was a runaway maid who fled her sponsor five months ago.
According to police, the maid then fell prey to a group of men who had offered her a job with benefits,… Read more
29th April 2010
When the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) opened in Saudi Arabia last year, it was supposed to be a model of modernity, with no gender segregation. Arab News alsodescribed it as “a bridge between world cultures”.
But not so fast. It may not have gender segreation, but what… Read more
ARAB ART ONLINE: Susan Hefuna: Al Sabr Gamil (Patience is Beautiful) 2007. Ink stained on wood 140 x 170 cm. More information | Click to enlarge
