BLACK FRIDAY

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The crackdown on freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia is widening with at least a dozen human rights activists sentenced in 2013 alone.

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Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International.

Arabian woman's long long hair

This is a disturbing report. It brings into perspective how dangerous seeking freedom is in countries like Saudi Arabia. Here in the States there are slogans flung around ridiculously that insult the efforts and struggles of activists in dictatorships whose actions, words and mere presence is a threat to their government, and a threat to the length of their own lives. Without thinking many Americans say our soldiers are fighting for our freedom when they are in another country invading, or toppling a government no longer of strategic importance to us.

The slogan "Freedom Ain't Free" sounds hollow against the backdrop of real freedom fighters standing as a tiny minority that reflects the needs and desires of their countrymen who really want to be free in their own country, and free from an oppressive government. It is a shame and embarrassing the things we say, and think we are conveying over in the United States. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 11.29.13


the Story

Arabian women sitting on arms of a chair. . . !!!!

TO BE A SAUDI WOMAN

There is a women's right movement in this conservative country by women to drive cars.
Pictured here is a Saudi woman getting out of her chauffeur driven car in the city of Riyadh.
May 26, 2011

Saudi Arabia is a conservative monarchy backed by religious scholars. It upholds an austere form of Sunni Islam and gives wide powers to clerics who dominate the judicial system and run their own police squad to enforce religious morals.

King Abdullah has pushed some cautious social reforms in Saudi Arabia, including efforts to bring more women into the workforce and to give them a voice in policy making by appointing them to the advisory Shoura Council. by Mahmoud Habboush

Sellakkannu Surya

This year Saudi Arabia will for the first time compete in the Oscars.

COMMENTARY of article

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, because I'm not exactly sure, but isn't Dubai in United Arab Emirates and NOT Saudi Arabia? - John

No, you are correct, but while the story is about Saudi Arabia, the author was smart enough to get out of the country before he published the story of the Government's enforcement of Sharia Law in Saudi Arabia. - John Lombardi 

The location at the top of the article is usually where the journalist is stationed, not where the story takes place. This is why you'll often see articles that say "New York" talking about places clear across the country. - Rebecca

Somehow, I feel that any institution that denies basic rights and needs to half of the population is doomed to fail.Before long there will be a woman's movement in Islam much like The Lysistrata - Dallas Sux