JEDDAH JOURNAL 16: INTERNET POSTINGS; MUTAWAA;

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JEDDAH 000476

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

RIYADH, PLEASE PASS TO DHAHRAN; DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP;
PARIS FOR ZEYA; LONDON FOR TSOU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/11/2016
TAGS: KISL PREL SA SOCI
SUBJECT: JEDDAH JOURNAL 16: INTERNET POSTINGS; MUTAWAA;
COMMERCE RUINS RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE; SOCIAL VIEWS; AND
HISTORICAL CONSERVATION

REF: JEDDAH 77

Classified By: Consul General Tatiana Gfoeller, for
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

EXTREMIST POSTING SUGGESTS "BURNING" MINISTERS


1. (U) On July 12, an anonymous source posted a message on
the fundamentalist Al Saha website that called
for a "Holocaust" type event that would "burn" Minister of
Culture and Information Iyad Madani, Minister of
Labor Ghazi al-Qusaybi, and prominent writer Turki Al Hamad.
Using easily recognizable nicknames to refer to
each person, the poster described the men as "seculars" who
are trying to corrupt Islamic society in Saudi
Arabia. He also accused them of following "western
instructions" that aimed to destroy "Islamic values and
virtues." The message included quotations from the Quran and
pictures from the actual Holocaust, which
the writer used to emphasize his extremist view that he hoped
"to burn these three, together with the rest of
the seculars, as the Nazis burned the Jews." Within one hour
of being posted, the message had received over
1120 hits, which is much higher than the average posting.
Initial reactions, however, showed disagreement with
the first poster,s brazen views and criticized him for being
a "coward and hypocrite" because he did not use
the officials, real names. One response even argued that
changes in media coverage account for the differences
emerging in the Kingdom and said that Madani should not be
blamed for social change because television stations
can now broadcast songs and movies.

BOYCOTT OF LINGERIE SHOPS WITH MALE SALESMEN


2. (U) A PD contact directed post's attention to an e-mail
campaign calling for a boycott of lingerie shops which have
male sales staff. Some time ago, the government decreed
that, as of June 18, all salespersons at lingerie shops
should be women. More recently, the government suspended
this law, because the shop owners complained they could not
find enough suitable women to fill the positions. This
unsigned e-mail calls for "Action for women: A call to
Boycott Lingerie Shops with Salesmen." The missal condemns
the postponement of the law for an indeterminate time. The
writer asserts that "thousands of women around the Kingdom
have lost the opportunity to work in these shops, which cater
primarily to them, and women's right to participate in
developing society has been taken away from them." The
letter then urges supporters to do business only with shops
that employ women, and to persuade their family, friends and
colleagues to do the same. Curiously, the plea describes
these people as "pro-choice."

A RANDOM SIGHTING OF JEDDAH'S MUTAWAA


3. (U) While shopping in a major shopping district,
ConGenOffs had a brief encounter with Saudi Arabia's mutawaa.
This is the first time in recent months that US ConGen
employees recall even seeing Jeddah's mutawaa, much less
being chastised by them. As the call to prayer sounded, the
mutawaa pulled up in front of the shop ConGenOffs were
perusing and shouted on the megaphone in Arabic for one
officer to cover her hair and the shop to close. The mutawaa
then drove to the other side of the shop in their SUV where
the shop owner rushed outside to tell the mutawaa that the
women were foreigners and not Saudis. The mutawaa then
yelled at the shop owner to get the women out to close and
pray. The shop owner then made the officers pretend to leave
as the mutawaa drove off and then allowed them to stay inside
the shop while the staff went to pray. After prayer, the
shop owner commented that he was surprised to see the mutawaa
were still active as he had not had an encounter with them
himself in the past few years. This contrasts with the
ConGenOffs experience in a traditional suk where the officers
were turned away by the proprietor at the behest of the
mutawaa although they were on the brink of a purchase worth
several hundred dollars.

CONSERVATIVES AND COMMERCE RUINING UMRA


JEDDAH 00000476 002 OF 002



4. (U) As confirmation of earlier reports that the sanctity
of performing hajj and umra (the lesser pilgrimage to Mecca)
is degrading (reftel),a contact of the Consul General (CG)
described her recent horrible experience in Mecca. The
contact, an Arab expatriate and longtime resident of Jeddah,
told the CG how much she was looking forward to performing
umra, and how diligently she had prepped for what she
expected to be a significant spiritual experience. However,
she was thoroughly disappointed when the mutawaa'in in Mecca
constantly interfered with the women performing the rites by
shouting and even shoving the all female crowd, despite all
of the women's appropriate umra attire and engaging in
thoroughly decorous behavior.


5. (U) To further ruin the experience, while praying in
front of the Kaaba, the multitude of neon advertisements for
Western products just beyond the Grand Mosque were a huge
distraction for the pilgrims. She particularly remembered a
huge, blinking sign hawking Seiko watches. This prompted the
contact to flee in disgust. As a result of this awful
experience, the contact told the CG she has given up on
traditional Islam and is currently exploring different facets
of Islam, particularly Sufism and even religious syncretism.

MASS MARRIAGE WITHOUT WOMEN


6. (U) The Consulate Political Assistant forwarded an
announcement that on Tuesday July 11 at the Jeddah Expo
center, the Governor of Mecca would act as the patron at the
7th mass marriage celebration (sic). According to the
report, 500 couples would be united in a public ceremony.
The report ended by noting that all the people attending
would be men, brides are not allowed. Post has not seen
media confirmation of the event yet. Given the incongruity
of a marriage ceremony without the women present, we can only
hope that a procedure exists to ensure that the women, or
since this is Saudi Arabia, their families, actually agreed
to the nuptials.

WOMAN LASHED FOR ILLEGITIMATE CHILD


7. (U) Another source reports that an Asian cleaning woman
in Najran, near the Yemen border, was sentenced to 100 lashes
for giving birth to an illegitimate child by her Asian
boyfriend.

FIRST SAUDI AND GULF FILM FESTIVAL


8. (U) The Jeddah Science and Technology Center will host
the first "Saudi and Gulf Film Festival," July 11-13. This
is the first film festival ever held in the Kingdom. Eight
of the sixteen offerings were produced by Saudis. They
include a 4-minute cartoon titled "Sada," three
documentaries, one of 45-minutes length called "Cinema
500km," another titled "Hijab and the Inherited Treasures,"
the third, "Lost Dream." There will also be a short drama
"Taxi," another drama "Around Us," and "The Last Piece"
lasting 5 minutes. There have already been complaints on the
fundamentalist internet (Al Saha, see paragraph 1)
prophesying that this could lead to movie theaters opening in
Saudi Arabia.

HISTORICAL CONSERVATION GETS BOOST IN JEDDAH


9. (U) The Jeddah municipal government announced a major
plan for developing the Old Jeddah Historical area (Balad).
The municipality has allocated SR 40 million in its Research
Budget for planning. The area, which covers 5 million square
meters, will be developed by a consortium of local and
international real estate developers. Post will monitor the
situation to see if it progresses past the planning stage.

Gfoeller