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