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[cosmosmariner]

Saudi court orders lashing, jail for 20 foreigners for drinking and dancing at mixed party

4 February 2007 (AP)
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - A Saudi Arabian judge sentenced 20 foreigners to receive lashes and spend several months in prison after convicting them of attending a party where alcohol was served and men and women danced, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The defendants were among 433 foreigners, including some 240 women, arrested by the kingdom's religious police for attending the party in Jiddah, the state-guided newspaper Okaz said. It did not identify the foreigners, give their nationalities or say when the party took place.

Judge Saud al-Boushi sentenced the 20 to prison terms of three to four months and ordered them to receive an unspecified number of lashes, the newspaper said. They have the right to appeal, it added.

The prosecutor general charged the 20 with ''drinking, arranging for impudent party, mixed dancing and shooting a video for the party,'' Okaz said.

The paper said the rest of those arrested were awaiting trial.

[veiledsentiments]

433 foreigners? at one party? that must have been one heckuva party

VS

[Cleopatra]

Given the size of the party and the number of arrests, I suspect they were Philippinos. Not that "Western" governments much care about the fate of their citizens in countries that spend billions annually on useless high-tech weapons, but I still don't think the Saudis would threaten that many white people with flogging. It must have been a nationality lower down on the pecking order.

[caliph]

In my years in the magical kingdom, I was at several parties where there were easily that many westerners. The "Battle of the Bands" was often a venue that had that many people in attendance. I can personally vouch for them at the Lockheed, Avco Dallah, and Raytheon compounds in glorious Jeddah, "where the debris meets the sea".

There was one famous party in the 1980s at the Bin "something or other" Foodstuffs compound that was raided by the police. The police arrived with ladders to scale the compound walls so as to avoid the gate guards notifying the party goers of the approaching police. Word did get to them and many scattered into the bushes and to the housing around the compound. An unlucky 100 or so were caught. A friend, who was the secretary for the British counsel then spent the next 3 days and nights visiting all the jails in Jeddah to find the Brits who were arrested and make arrangements for them. In this case the police had word that there were drugs to be sold at the party, they weren't particularly concerned about the alcohol, as it is well known that "Sid Deeky" is my friend. At least that's what the tee-shirts with that logo stated quite publicly.

Another famous one was in Dhahran where the police busted into a hall where there were several men on stage dancing, wearing nothing but revolving flashing lights attached to the crotch area.

Oh, those were the good old days in the magical kingdom!.

[dmb]

I have been lashed at quite a few parties over the years

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=lashed

[007]

I guess, as Cleopatra suspected, the poor people in this party are mostly Philipino. And this is not the fist case or the last case where Philipino, Indians, bangali, etc, are caught in a party drinking or selling Porno videos. I have seen Pakistanis and Indians lashed in Public (some got 1000 lashes, especially for drug dealing, and some got 50 for minor incident like drinking!). So, don't be surpised.
BTW, the person who got 1000 lashes will not get them at one shot, there are regulation how to apply the lashes, it is done by smaller numbers distributed over a number of days or weeks, and the person is allowed to wear a thick jacket if he wants (to absorb the shock from the lashes)!

[pklocek]

I agree that the party was probably a giant Pinoy Extravaganza by the numbers involved. I really can't believe that the poor Bangladeshis could muster 400 people who all actually have the same annual day-off. Furthermore, I have never actually seen Indians engaged in mixed-dancing. (I am not saying it doesn't happen ... I am just saying that I have never seen or heard of it happening.)

[scot47]

The Filipinos certainly know how to party. They also seem to be on the whole a lot saner than the Western EFLers we come across in KSA.

Any reason for this ?

[cosmosmariner]

All you guys speculating on the nationalities of the party goers! You mised the point.

You know full well it was mostly a party crowd of the "bangers and beans" bunch. But what does it matter?

The whole purpose of the posting is to point out to TEFLers who might be considering a career in this Magical Kingdom, just what they may encounter if they come here.

[Cleopatra]

[Stephen Jones]

Allowing yourself to be videoed at an illicit party strikes me as only marginally less stupid than getting arrested for possessing the video.

[007]

[dmb]

[007]

[dmb]