It's a real pity the Religious Policeman (a.k.a. Alhamedi Alanezi) is no longer blogging, as he would have had a field-day with the latest pronouncement from Saudi. You see, the heads of the Vice Squad (which means something else entirely in the Saudi context) held a press conference this weekend to announce a new policy of respecting an interesting civil liberty.
Al-Arabiya, the Saudi-owned news outlet, is all over the story, whose Arabic we humbly summarize here:
The Saudi Vice Police (mutawi3een) President Cheikh Ibrahim Bin Abdallah Alghaith called the heads of branches to talk to the media. He claimed they have the authority to speak about cases taking place in their jurisdiction areas. He also encouraged members to accept criticism, but to keep on fighting against "witchcraft."
Cheikh Alghaith then ordered them to stop inspecting citizens' cellular phones in order to preserve privacy unless there is reason to believe a cellular telephone was used to commit a crime. Quote:
"No member of this body has the right to seize or inspect [the contents] of cellular phones. This is an assault on people's privacy because inspection means gaining access to a person's secrets. This is forbidden by Chari'a because it [involves] a Muslim's inviolability, no mobile can be inspected unless it was used in a crime."
It may sound like nothing, but this is a massive concession by the Religious Police and a sign that popular sentiment against the mutawi3een was growing. The concession also shows the importance of new technology in giving Saudis a sense of individuality and rights to privacy.
The Zero Group offer offshore untraceabe phone service to the USA, CAN, Mexico. They also offer a wordwide SMS/TXT message spoofing service.
http://www.thezerogroup.com
Posted by: Spoof Card | September 07, 2007 at 03:37 PM