Saudis Launch Anti-Christian Campaign
The Middle East Media Research Institute quotes the Saudi daily Al-Jazirah in reporting that 40 men, women, and children with Pakistani citizenship were arrested on April 21, 2005 after performing Christian religious rites in an apartment in the Thaharat Al-Badi'a neighborhood in western Riyadh. The arrest was part of a sweeping police operation by the Riyadh District Police, at the order of Riyadh Governor Prince Salman bin Abd Al-'Aziz.
The Saudi religious police – known as the Authority for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice - runs a 21st century Inquisition in which anyone suspected of secretly worshiping in non-Moslem manner is routinely arrested. A Saudi religious police source explained the reason for the arrest: "These people tried to spread the poison and their beliefs to others, by means of distributing pamphlets and [missionary] publications."
The US State Department still pretends that Saudi Arabia ia a moderate pro-Western regime.
2 Comments:
The US State Department still pretends that Saudi Arabia ia a moderate pro-Western regime.
I think this is changing under Secretary Rice. I hope so.
Overthrow of the Saudis is a goal of Al Qaeda and the anti-American left, not the United States. We can press for reform there until such a time as more serious measures are taken.
But reform starts at home. If the United States raises its domestic refining capacity (by cutting the ridiculousness out of EPA regulations preventing the building of new refineries) and begins drawing oil from domestic sources, such as ANWR and the Gulf of Mexico, we can pretty much dictate terms to the Saudis as far as oil trade.
In 10 years, the Saudis will be competing with a free, democratic, stable Iraq for the world's oil business.
I hope the Saudis know how to make fiber optic cable out of sand, because their oil will be worthless.
I think this is changing under Secretary Rice. I hope so.
I tend to doubt it. Keeping them fat and fed on American "love" is probably going to be the gameplan.
Anyway, this article doesn't surprise me. Islam supposedly doesn't hold with distributing religious materials. So if these people were passing out, or intended to pass out, pamphlets and missionary materials, they were asking to get busted.
On the other hand, it's the Religious Police, and these are the same guys who were telling stores not to sell red roses in the weeks leading up to Valentine's Day because it was a "Christian holiday." Go fig.
J
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