Amnesty says Saudi beheading for sorcery ‘shocking’

An Israeli child signs an Amnesty International banner calling for the improvement of human rights in China during an event in Tel Aviv in this file photo from June 2008. Amnesty described as ‘deeply shocking’ Saudi Arabia’s beheading of a woman convicted on charges of ‘sorcery and witchcraft’ on December 12, 2011


Rights group Amnesty International has described as “deeply shocking” Saudi Arabia’s beheading of a woman convicted on charges of “sorcery and witchcraft”, saying it underlined the urgent need to end executions in the kingdom.

Saudi national Amina bint Abdul Halim bin Salem Nasser was executed yesterday in the northern province of al-Jawf after being tried and convicted for practising sorcery, the interior ministry said, without giving details of the charges.

Australian given 500 lashes for blasphemy in Saudi Arabia

An Australian man has been sentenced to 500 lashes and a year in prison in Saudi Arabia for breaking the country’s strict blasphemy laws during a Haj pilgrimage last month.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs said it was very concerned about the well-being of the man, named in media reports as Mansor Almaribe, a 45-year-old father of five.

“The Australian Government has a universal policy of condemning the use of corporal punishment amounting to torture, or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” a spokeswoman for Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said in a statement.

Australia’s ambassador had contacted the Saudi government, seeking leniency, she added.

'From now, embarrassment will end': Saudi King bans men from selling lingerie

Unlikely hero: King Abdullah of Saudia Arabia issued a decree banning men from working in lingerie shops

He's probably not the first person you would have on your mind as being the face of lingerie, but King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has become something of a hero to women in his home country.

He has issued a decree banning all men from working in lingerie shops to end 'embarrassment' suffered by women who don't want to give men their measurements.

Saudi women working in the outlets got embroiled in a dispute three years ago with the labour ministry and the powerful religious authority, which issued a fatwa banning such jobs.

The decree from the king was part of a push to reduce the amount of female unemployment in the conservative kingdom, currently at around 30 per cent.

Saudi women say they have been uncomfortable buying lingerie from men and would prefer female sales assistants.






Fatima Garub, founder of a Facebook campaign called 'Enough Embarrassment', backed the king's decision saying it would create about 6,000 jobs for Saudi women.

'From now, embarrassment will end,' she said. 'We thank the king who felt our problem and took the decision that we have been waiting for a long time.'

In February last year, campaigners urged women to boycott lingerie shops with male staff for two week.

They said that women should not have to give their measurements to men they don't know because it contradicted Muslim law. Islamic scholars backed the boycott.

Reem Asaad, economics professor in Jeddah, started the campaign in 2008 and religious police said they were okay with women working in shops as long as they were in women-only malls.

Religious leaders in the Wahhabi form of Islam - which makes up the majority of the country - require complete separation of members of the opposite sex who are not related.

The Saudi society continues to be incredibly traditional and the idea of women working is frowned upon.

Saudi plans to build 16 nuclear reactors by 2030

Saudi Arabia plans to build 16 nuclear power reactors by 2030 which could costs more than US$100 billion (RM303 billion), a Saudi-based newspaper reported today, citing a top official.

The world’s top crude exporter, Saudi is struggling to keep up with rapidly rising power demand. It has considered boosting its domestic energy capacity using nuclear reactors.

“After 10 years we will have the first two reactors,” Abdul Ghani bin Melaibari, coordinator of scientific collaboration at King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy, told Arab News.



Many have backed away from atomic plans after the accident at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant but oil-rich Gulf States are among the few countries looking to make major investments in nuclear power plants.

“After that, every year we will establish two, until we have 16 of them by 2030,” he said.

He estimated the cost of each reactor to be around US$7 billion, adding that the Kingdom is in the process of planning for the nuclear project and coordination with specialised companies.

The kingdom plans to cover 20 per cent of its electricity needs using nuclear energy, said Melaibari.

Power demand in the top oil exporter is estimated to grow 7-8 per cent during the next 10 years.

Neighbouring United Arab Emirates in December 2009 awarded a South Korean consortium the contract to build four nuclear power plants worth US$20.4 billion.

Saudi king orders billions of dollars in handouts

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah (centre, seated) is greeted by a Saudi officer on his arrival at Riyadh airport February 23, 2011

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah today ordered the handout of billions of dollars in benefits to Saudi citizens and created more domestic security jobs in an attempt to insulate the top oil exporter from regional unrest.

The king made a brief statement congratulating Saudis for their loyalty, national unity and facing the enemies of religion before his decrees were read out live on Saudi television.

The benefits range from monthly payouts for the unemployed to building 500,000 new homes and spending on healthcare.

In addition, the king ordered the creation of 60,000 new security jobs within the interior ministry. As well, the king decreed that media must respect clerics or face penalties.

Saudi police fire in air to disperse protest

Protesters shout slogans during a demonstration demanding the release of prisoners they say are held without trial, in the Gulf coast town of Qatif, March 10, 2011.


Shots were heard near the protest by about 200 Shi’ites in the town of Qatif in Eastern Province, home to some of the world’s largest oil fields and a large Shi’ite minority.

The clampdown was a sign that the Saudi government was serious about enforcing a ban on protests called for today by Internet activists emboldened by protests that toppled the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia before spreading to the Gulf.

“There was firing, it was sporadic,” one witness said, adding that the sound of gunfire was interspersed with the noise from stun grenades.

A spokesman for the Saudi Interior Ministry said police fired over the heads of the crowd after they attacked a police officer who was documenting the protest, and said two protesters and a police officer were injured.



Witnesses gave conflicting accounts of whether police in the Sunni-dominated kingdom, an absolute monarchy where protests are forbidden as being against Islam, used rubber or live bullets.

Witnesses said at least two injured protesters appeared to have been shot, but had few other details about their injuries.

“They were not targeting the people directly. It was indirect firing,” said one Shi’ite activist who asked to be identified by only his first name, Hussein.

“It seems they don’t mean to kill. We think this is a message not for Qatif but for all Saudis about tomorrow,” he added.

Social media

Shi’ite protesters have been demonstrating in small numbers for around three weeks in Qatif and other eastern towns, mainly demanding the release of prisoners. In some cases the protests were tolerated even as others were broken up, activists said.

But it was not clear if small protests that have erupted in the east could be replicated in Riyadh, a wealthier and more developed city in Saudi Arabia’s conservative Sunni heartland.

A Facebook page calling for nationwide protests in Saudi Arabia gathered more than 30,000 followers. In Riyadh police boosted their presence, parking with their lights flashing at major junctions and patrolling the roads.

Brent oil prices jumped by US$3 per barrel on news of the firing in Saudi Arabia, fully erasing earlier losses to trade close to US$116 (RM352) a barrel. Earlier in the day, oil was falling on the back of Europe’s debt woes.

A loose coalition of liberals, rights activists, moderate Sunni Islamists and Shi’ite Muslims has called for political reform. Saudi rulers say their country, as an Islamic state applying sharia (Islamic law), has no need for protests or political parties.

Leaders of the Shi’ite community met King Abdullah and the governor of Eastern Province to seek the release of some 26 Shi’ites detained for taking part in protests.

Saudi Shi’ites, who make up about 15 per cent of the population, often complain they struggle to get senior government jobs and the same benefits as other citizens.

The government denies these charges.

The US government said it was aware of protests being dispersed in Saudi Arabia and reiterated its support for the right to peaceful assembly.

Earlier this week, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said protests were not the way to seek change and that foreign meddling in his country’s affairs was not welcome.

“The principle of dialogue, I believe, is the best way to address the issues facing society,” Prince Saud, a nephew of the king, said. “Change will come through the citizens of this kingdom and not through foreign fingers, we don’t need them.”

Saudi king back home, orders US$37b in handouts

Saudi King Abdullah returned home today after a three-month medical absence and unveiled benefits for Saudis worth some US$37 billion (RM112.80 billion) in an apparent bid to insulate the world’s top oil exporter from an Arab protest wave.

The king (picture), who had been convalescing in Morocco after back surgery in New York in November, stood as he descended from the plane in a special lift. He then took to a wheelchair.






Hundreds of men in white robes performed a traditional Bedouin sword dance on carpets laid out at Riyadh airport for the return of the monarch, thought to be 87.

Abdullah left his ailing octogenarian half-brother, Crown Prince Sultan, in charge during his absence.

Before Abdullah arrived, state media announced an action plan to help lower- and middle-income people among the 18 million Saudi nationals. It includes pay rises to offset inflation, unemployment benefits and affordable family housing.

Saudi Arabia has so far escaped popular protests against poverty, corruption and oppression that have raged across the Arab world, toppling entrenched leaders in Egypt and Tunisia and even spreading to Bahrain, linked to the kingdom by a causeway.

Significantly, Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa was among the princes thronging the tarmac when Abdullah flew in.

King Hamad freed about 250 political prisoners today and has offered dialogue with protesters, mostly from Bahrain’s Shi’ite majority, who demand more say in the Sunni-ruled island.

Riyadh would be worried if unrest in Bahrain, where seven people were killed and hundreds wounded last week, spread to its own disgruntled Shi’ite minority in the oil-rich east.

Hundreds of people have backed a Facebook call for a Saudi “day of rage” on March 11 to demand an elected ruler, greater freedom for women and the release of political prisoners.

Saudi stability is of global concern. A key US ally, the top OPEC producer holds more than a fifth of world oil reserves.

The king announced no political reforms such as municipal council polls demanded by opposition groups. Saudi Arabia has no elected parliament or parties and allows little public dissent.

Some Saudis were critical. “We want rights, not gifts,” said Fahad Aldhafeeri in one typical message on Twitter.

Saudi analysts said the king might soon reshuffle his Cabinet to inject fresh blood and revive stalled reforms.

“They are under pressure. They have to do something. We know Saudi Arabia is surrounded by revolutions of various types, and not just in poor countries, but in some such as Libya which are rich,” said Mai Yamani, at London’s Chatham House think tank.

“Basically what the king is doing is good, but it’s an old message of using oil money to buy the silence, subservience and submission of the people,” she said. “The new generation of revolution is surrounding them from everywhere.”

Saudi Arabia holds more than US$400 billion in net foreign assets, but faces social pressures such as housing shortages and high youth unemployment in a fast-growing population.

“Housing and job creation for Saudis are two structural challenges this country is facing,” said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi, who put the total value of the king’s measures at 140 billion riyals (RM112.80 billion).

G20-member Saudi Arabia has outlined spending of 580 billion riyals for 2011 in its third consecutive record budget.

EFG-Hermes put the extra benefit package at 100 billion riyals, saying it could rally a stock market that lost 4 per cent in the past week on unrest in Bahrain and elsewhere.

Saudi king leaves hospital in good health

King Abdullah, at Riyadh airport on November 22, 2010, before he left for the United States for medical treatment.

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has left a New York hospital in good health, the kingdom’s state news agency said today.“King Abdullah left the Presbyterian Hospital on Tuesday evening . . . as God gave him good health,” the Saudi Press Agency said.

“He moved to his place of residence in New York to recuperate and continue with physical therapy,” the statement said, but did not say when he might return to Saudi Arabia.

Earlier this month, the state news agency said the king, believed to be 86 or 87, had a successful second operation to stabilise vertebrae in his spinal column.



The second operation was the completion of earlier surgery after a blood clot complicated a slipped disc.


Crown Prince Sultan, who has health problems of his own, returned from abroad to govern the world’s largest oil exporter while Abdullah is away.

King Abdullah, who came to power in 2005, is the sixth leader of the top exporter among the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and US ally, whose political stability is of regional and global concern.

Male escort who visited Saudi prince's hotel room stripped to give him a massage and was paid in £50 notes, court told

A male escort told the Saudi Prince Old Bailey murder trial today that he stripped to give the prince a massage but could not be sure there was a 'sexual element' to it.

Student Pablo Silva said he had visited the hotel room of Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud two weeks before he allegedly murdered Bandar Abdulaziz, 32, during a ferocious attack with a 'sexual element' on February 15.

The 34-year-old denies murder and a second count of grievous bodily harm with intent in relation to an alleged assault on Mr Abdulaziz in a lift on January 22.

His lawyer, John Kelsey-Fry QC, today denied the suggestion that the two men were in a gay relationship.

Prosecutors claim two male escorts had visited the prince at the Landmark Hotel in Marylebone, central London.

Trial: Al Saud, left, on his way to City of Westminster magistrates court in a prison van for his original hearing following the death of Bandar Abdulaziz, right

Silva, a Brazilian student, told the jury he was called to the 'swish' Landmark Hotel in Marylebone, central London, after advertising his services with agencies called Escort Guys and Men In The City.

Mr Silva, speaking through a Portuguese interpreter, said he arrived at about 1am to be greeted by a 'very polite' man.

There was a large bed and big bathroom and various shopping bags and a large piece of luggage in the room, he added.

'I believe he was alone. I made some very superficial questions about whether he liked London. I don't remember much conversation.

'I asked him whether he wanted a massage and I asked him to remove something which he had on so that I should be able to do the massage.'

Tall, dark-haired Mr Silva said he was studying in Portugal for a doctorate in mathematics but would visit England to improve his English and worked as an escort to pay for his stay.

He said: 'Generally I take off my shirt or my trousers to cause a little more provocation in my client.'

Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting, asked: 'Was there any sexual element to the massage?' Mr Silva replied: 'I am not sure but I know there was no penetration, also oral sex no.

Mr Laidlaw then asked: 'Was there any masturbation?' Mr Silva answered: 'I can't remember but I believe, but I am not 100 per cent certain. I believe I could go because he had ejaculated. I am not certain in relation to that.'

He said he could not recall how much he was paid, although received cash in £50 notes.

Earlier, a hotel porter told the jury the way Al Saud and his 'effeminate' manservant colour-coded their clothes in their wardrobe led him to believe they were gay.

Dobomir Dimitrov, himself a homosexual, went to the room of Saud Abdulazaziz bin Nasser al Saud at the Landmark Hotel in Marylebone, central London, to deliver hangers.

Mr Dimitrov said Al Saud and his manservant, Bandar Abdullah Abdulaziz, were not behaving like two heterosexual men in the way that they were hanging up their clothes in colour-coded order on hangers he had taken to the room.

He said of the taller of the two men, who was black: 'It was impossible not to notice that he was homosexual. I would describe them as a gay couple'.

Al Saud's barrister John Kelsey-Fry QC said: 'You had an effeminate gay man sharing a room with another man and colour coding their clothing?'

'Yes,' Mr Dimitrov replied.

'That is why you were led to the impression of them being a gay couple?" asked Mr Kelsey-Fry.

'Yes', the witness answered.

Mr Kelsey-Fry said in cross-examination: 'It is not accepted that this was in fact a gay couple - but I readily accept that you had the impression they were a gay couple'.

Another hotel porter George Konis told the court he had seen Mr Abdulaziz apparently injured and that he seemed to be treated 'like a slave'.

He said: 'The darker guy, he was battered, he was bruised up, beaten up, with sunglasses. He was all swollen.'

Mr Konis said he helped Al Saud and Mr Abdulaziz move their belongings when they transferred to a larger room at the hotel on January 28.

He said: 'He still looked like a mess but it looked like it was healing slowly, eyes were swollen, bruises. It looked like someone had pounded his face, given him a good few punches.

'I wanted to help with the moving. He kept picking up clothes and trying to help us. There was a big railing of clothing and he was trying to help me push it. The way things were he was just like a slave, of what I saw.'

He said during this time the prince was on his mobile phone and 'just giggling and talking and walking up and down'.

Mr Konis said he 'thought there was some form of relationship' between the men.

'There was something there definitely between them. They were both very camp. I suppose it is an assumption that they were gay.'

Jurors have heard that Al Saud, a grandson of Saudia Arabia's King Fahd, killed Mr Abdulaziz, 32, in the hotel room in February this year. Prosecutors allege that it was a ferocious attack which had a 'sexual element'.

The court heard further details of the two men's activities in the period leading up to the alleged murder.

They had come to Britain to stay one night at the Landmark hotel at the end of December before travelling to the Maldives.

The prince had travelled on a business class ticket costing £3,647.80 and Mr Abdulaziz in economy for a fare of £891.60.

The men had returned to stay at the hotel on January 20, dining that night at the Nobu restaurant in Berkeley Street, central London.

Michel Lengui, deputy manager at Scalini's restaurant where the two men dined with a third man on January 24, said: 'One of them looked a bit effeminate and therefore I assumed they might have been gay.'

The dinner took place two days after the alleged assault on Mr Abdulaziz captured on CCTV.

George Rodrigues, a barman at the restaurant, said one of the men was 'very quiet' and was wearing sunglasses which he found 'really strange', as well as a black woolly hat.

'He had swelling to his lips and he appeared to be having difficulty as he was eating his food. He kept his head down and never really looked at me directly in the face at any time', he said.

The trial was adjourned until tomorrow.

Dobromir Dimitrov arriving at the Old Bailey today: The hotel porter said he felt Al Saud and Abdulaziz were a gay couple

Pentagon proposes huge sale of warplanes to Saudis

The Obama administration is seeking a go-ahead from Congress to sell up to $60 billion worth of sophisticated warplanes to Saudi Arabia and could add another $30 billion worth of naval arms in a deal designed to counter the rise of Iran as a regional power.

The deal would apparently represent the largest single U.S. arms sale ever approved. It would allow Saudi Arabia, the most militarily advanced of the Arab Gulf states and one of the richest countries in the world, to buy top-line U.S.-made helicopters and fighter jets with ranges that would span the Middle East and beyond.

Unlike some previous sales to Saudi Arabia, this one is not expected to be derailed by opposition in Congress or from U.S. backers of Israel, who have worried in the past about blunting Israel's military edge over its Arab neighbors.



Pentagon proposes huge sale of warplanes to Saudis

Iran is now seen by Israel, the Gulf Arab states and the West as a significant and unpredictable threat that has changed the old calculus of the region's balance of power.

The U.S. is realigning its defense policies in the Persian Gulf as Iran improves the range and accuracy of missiles and other weapons that could threaten Israel or U.S. allies in Europe. Besides the Saudi deal, the U.S. has pending or proposed arms sales to Kuwait, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, and has repositioned some U.S. forces and military assets around the Gulf.

The Pentagon plans to notify Congress of the proposed Saudi sale within about a week, spokesman Col. David Lapan said Monday. Lapan would not confirm details of the Saudi shopping list pending congressional notification, but two senior defense officials said it includes up to 84 new F-15 fighter jets and three types of helicopters including the sleek Black Hawk and the missile-toting Apache.

The Saudi sale has been in the works for months, and U.S. officials have acknowledged its rough outline for months. Full details of the numbers and types of aircraft were reported by The Wall Street Journal on Monday.

The defense officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because Congress has not yet seen the entire proposal, said the Pentagon expects that Saudi Arabia would initially select about $30 billion worth of aircraft. Approval of the larger proposal would give the kingdom room to buy more warplanes later.

Congress could ask for changes or try to attach strings. U.S. and Israeli officials said they expect some members of Congress will object strongly to the sale, but not enough to block it.

Separately, the Pentagon is considering an additional request to sell up to roughly $30 billion in advanced naval technology to Saudi Arabia. The defense officials said that plan was still in the preliminary planning stage and would not come before Congress for months. It could include new patrol ships to defend Saudi coastal waters and counter the growing naval capability of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards.

The sales acknowledges the shift in U.S. and Israeli security priorities in the Gulf region, defense analyst Anthony Cordesman wrote recently.

"Strong U.S. security ties to Saudi Arabia offer Israel a far better alternative than Saudi Arabia turning to European or other suppliers and questioning U.S. support if it faces a crisis with Iran," Cordesman wrote in a Center for Strategic and International Studies analysis.

The Obama administration has repeatedly assured Israel that it is committed to protecting the Jewish state's military advantage, said Jonathan Peled, spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington.

"We have had a close, consistent dialogue about it," and Israel accepts the U.S. rationale for the sale "even though we are not thrilled about it," Peled said.

U.S. and other diplomats said Defense Secretary Robert Gates laid out the reasoning behind the proposed Saudi sale during meetings with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak in recent months.

Washington plans to counterbalance the sales to Arab nations with $30 billion in military assistance to Israel over 10 years. Israel is buying about 20 advanced American F-35 fighter jets worth $4 billion, to be funded by U.S. military aid to the country.

"At the core of our policy is making sure that there is stability in the region and part of that stability is making sure that Israel has what it needs to be able to provide for its own security," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Monday. "So the United States would do nothing that would upset the current balance in the region."