Saudi Police Arrest Woman for... Sitting in Starbucks

The Mutawwa are at it again, keeping the streets, sidewalks, and shops of Saudi Arabia safe for Salafists. Their latest bold crime-fighting move? Arresting a 37-year-old American woman for sitting at Starbucks next to a male:

A 37 -year-old American businesswoman and married mother of three is seeking justice after she was thrown in jail by Saudi Arabia's religious police for sitting with a male colleague at a Starbucks coffee shop in Riyadh.

Yara, who does not want her last name published for fear of retribution, was bruised and crying when she was freed from a day in prison after she was strip-searched, threatened and forced to sign false confessions by the Kingdom's “Mutaween” police.

Her story offers a rare first-hand glimpse of the discrimination faced by women living in Saudi Arabia. In her first interview with the foreign press, Yara told The Times that she would remain in Saudi Arabia to challenge its harsh enforcement of conservative Islam rather than return to America.

“If I want to make a difference I have to stick around. If I leave they win. I can't just surrender to the terrorist acts of these people,” said Yara, who moved to Jeddah eight years ago with her husband, a prominent businessman.

Her ordeal began with a routine visit to the new Riyadh offices of her finance company, where she is a managing partner. The electricity temporarily cut out, so Yara and her colleagues — who are all men — went to a nearby Starbucks to use its wireless internet.

She sat in a curtained booth with her business partner in the café's “family” area, the only seats where men and women are allowed to mix. For Yara, it was a matter of convenience. But in Saudi Arabia, public contact between unrelated men and women is strictly prohibited.

“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,” recalled Yara, who wears an abaya and headscarf, like most Saudi women...

Yara, whose parents are Jordanian and grew up in Salt Lake City, once believed that life in Saudi Arabia was becoming more liberal. But on Monday the religious police took her mobile phone, pushed her into a cab and drove her to Malaz prison in Riyadh. She was interrogated, strip-searched and forced to sign and fingerprint a series of confessions pleading guilty to her “crime”.

“They took me into a filthy bathroom, full of water and dirt. They made me take off my clothes and squat and they threw my clothes in this slush and made me put them back on,” she said. Eventually she was taken before a judge. “He said 'You are sinful and you are going to burn in hell'. I told him I was sorry. I was very submissive. I had given up. I felt hopeless,” she said...

Yara was visited yesterday by officials from the American Embassy, who promised they would file a report. An embassy official told The Times that it was being treated as “an internal Saudi matter” and refused to comment on her case.

It's hard to know what part of the story is most pathetic, but definitely the most ironic is the Mutaween strip-searching a woman accused of immodesty. It's hard to top that one! But good luck to Yara in taking on the forces of darkness in Saudi Arabia - she'll need it.

Comments

[Ali]

Wake up people, do you still want in the 21st century to let a group of thugs control how and where you drink a cup of coffee in public.
Im disgusted, such people bring shame to the Arab World and give a negative image of Muslims and Middle Easterns, especialy after 9/11!

[Iranian Madness]

Near where I live in Tehran they have recently shut down a popular coffee shop where young men and women used to mingle together in an un-islamic way.

Same rules, same stupidity, different place!

[Farah]

so when you say "they strip searched her" you mean the same men who arrested her?

[OrDoesIt]

Farah, see the line in the article above about the actions of the Mutawwa:
"She was interrogated, strip-searched and forced to sign and fingerprint a series of confessions pleading guilty..."

[Atif Abdul-Rahman]

I have lived in Riyadh most of my life and know the problems there, still this news seems too awkward to me, it is difficult for me to realize how in the hell is this happeneing. Believe me when i say saudia is liberating, atleast there is a huge influx of students, especially women in universities, women r appearing on tv with thier own tv shows, once banned books r now available easily, and on top this mutaween (plural for mutawa) are kept under stricter leash....

really sad to hear this still....

[Mohammed Abdurraheem]

I can't believe Yara saying that Mutaween Police strip searched her. They would have handed over her to female police for searching.If Yara's statement was correct, she would have sued those Mutaween Policemen for this kind of act. It is forbidden in Islam and as per Saudi Civil Law that policemen search normally or strip search a woman.