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[sundubuman]

Nigerian Lands in Jail for Helping 60-Year-Old Woman in Riyadh
Javid Hassan & Raid Qusti, Arab News


RIYADH, 6 August 2007 � A new convert to Islam, fired with zeal to do a righteous act, had no idea that he would pay a heavy price for helping a sick woman, one that has landed him 50 days and counting behind bars.

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice found him guilty for committing a crime: Being in the presence of a woman who is not a relative (a so-called �illegal state of seclusion�).

Arab News tried several times to contact Ahmed Al-Jardan, spokesman for the commission, but phone calls were not returned. A written fax sent to the commission�s main center asking for comment was also ignored.

Ibrahim Mohammed Lawal, a Nigerian student of Islamic studies at Badiya Islamic Center in Riyadh, learned that his neighbor, a 63-year-old woman, was indisposed and needed medical attention. So he took her to various hospitals in Riyadh, including the Riyadh Medical Complex at Shumaisy, all of which refused to treat her. It was only after the intervention of Sheikh Fawaz, director of Badiya Islamic Center, that the Badiya Hospital admitted the case. Despite the charitable act Mohammed ended up in detention, accused of immoral behavior because he was neither married nor related by blood to the elderly woman.

Speaking to Arab News on phone from his cell in the Malaz prison, Mohammed said that after the woman received treatment and after he returned to Riyadh after three days in the Western Region, he was arrested after checking up on the woman�s health. In the woman�s apartment were three other women related to her.

�I was glad to note that the lady was making steady progress,� he said. �While we were chatting, there was a knock on the door. When this lady opened the door, four or five Saudis, whom I had seen outside the building before, barged in. They accused me of being alone with the woman unrelated to me and suspected my intention behind this visit to her apartment.�

Mohammed said the Saudis identified themselves as members of the commission and took him and the three women into custody and later to Malaz prison. Mohammed says that the commission members also confiscated the money he had in his possession (SR2,750), in addition to his laptop and other personal items.

Mohammed said he tried to contact Shaikh Fawaz to help corroborate his story, but Fawaz is currently hospitalized for a major operation. The judge managed to contact Fawaz in the hospital who backed up the claims by the accused.

�The judge asked me what I wanted,� said Mohammed. �I told him I want to return to Nigeria.�

But before Mohammad can go anywhere, he has to figure out why he is in prison and how to get out. Mohammed, who embraced Islam recently, said he was unable to understand the reason behind his continued detention.

�I wanted to do a good thing for a woman who was sick, and this is what I get in return,� he said. �I lost the support of my family in Nigeria, where my wife and children are upset with me � and here I am languishing in prison.�

[Alyallen]

That sucks. I suppose that if he did the same thing in another Muslim country, he would have been lauded for his actions.

Poor guy, I hope he gets out of jail soon....

[bucheon bum]

long live saudi.

[Junior]

But of course life is worse in christian culture apparently.

Sometimes people offer you leaflets on the street and other nasy stuff.


i'd prefer to live under sharia law anyday.

[JAZZYJJJ]

Would the same thing happen in Indonesia??? No.

Saudi Arabia does not equal the Muslim world. They are racist fucks.

J.

[thepeel]

[On the other hand]

[thepeel]

The state does not have to sanction religious violence for the religion of the country to be heading down a dangerous path. As Indonesia becomes more free, her people are becoming more extremist. Same goes for Malaysia. Should my pet-theory (that islam needs a strong-man keeping it docile) hold I'd expect Turkey to start showing similar trends in the next 5 years or so.

And lets not forget the role the Indonesian military is said to have played in the last rounds of anti-Chinese race-riots as well. Or, in Malaysia, the racist advocation of ethnic cleansing (again, of Chinese) that is often heard by prominent government ministers (the education minister is likely the worst).

These states that are said to be moderate are nothing at all close to moderation. Unless we define muslim moderation as racist, chauvinist and violent.

And yeah, the Irish were nucking futz. No doubt. The exception that proves the rule, innit?

[On the other hand]

[On the other hand]

Just to clarify...

I wrote:

[JMO]

I thought the overseas chinese histoically controlled a large % of the indonesian economy. Could that be the reason for the backlash. This has many more sides to it than just the muslim angle obviously. Simple resentment would probably do the trick.

[bucheon bum]

[JAZZYJJJ]

[Treefarmer]

i read somewhere that iraq was safer for christians before america invaded it

i hate this shite how american republicans are attacking liberals over shit like the taliban and islamic extremists when it's common knowledge that the taliban only took control of the country because the fucking republican party sponsored them

if there was no reagan, there would be no taliban

[thepeel]