RIYADH RECORD: AUGUST 19-31

C O N F I D E N T I A L RIYADH 007191 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/12/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL KISL KWMN SA SUBJECT: RIYADH RECORD: AUGUST 19-31 REF: A. A) RIYADH 6737 ¶B. B) RIYADH 6730 Classified By: Acting Deputy Chief of Mission David Rundell for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Youth summer camps in the Kingdom elicited controversy from one of their lectures on the negative aspects of the West and how Saudi journalists act as the West's "agents." The Ministry of Commerce licensed the first female engineer in Saudi Arabia; the hope is that many more will follow in the wake of the newly implemented law allowing female engineers to open their own firms. The General Presidency for the Two Holy Mosques Affairs issued a proposal to move the women's section of the Grand Mosque from the central, holy section to an outer area far from television cameras. A court in Al-Jouf annulled a three-year, Islamicly-valid marriage due to a lack of tribal "fitness" between the husband and wife. Tribal leaders resolved a conflict with donations to a social society developed to pay compensation for violent crimes. END SUMMARY. -------------- Conservative Cleric Shakes Up Summer Camps -------------- ¶2. (C) Conservative Islamic cleric Sheikh al-Break reportedly gave a strong lecture at one of the youth summer camps sponsored by the Islamic charity, World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY). The lecture was anti-American in nature and al-Break accused many Saudi journalists of being "agents" of the West. Following the announcement of this lecture in the mainstream media, there was negative public reaction and calls for an apology to the journalists in the absence of evidence from Sheikh al-Break. In a meeting with PolOffs on August 27, Secretary General of WAMY Dr. Saleh al-Wohaibi said that, although it was unfortunate that al-Break's comments sparked such controversy in the media, it is "not possible to control" all of the information given during these lectures. WAMY is one of the major organizer's of summer camps for children, and al-Wohaibi said its focus is to encourage youth to engage in positive activities, such as sports and religious study, during their summer vacations. He also said that WAMY is an open charity that aims to improve opportunities for youth throughout the Islamic world and that the Saudi-based youth camps are only a small sampling of their activities (septel). -------------- -------------- Women Licensed for Business, Prohibited from Prayer -------------- -------------- ¶3. (C) On August 25, Azah al-Deghather became the first Saudi female architect to obtain an engineering license from the Saudi Engineering Association (SEA) following the implementation of the recent law that allows female engineers to obtain licenses to open their own engineering firms (Ref A),According to several media reports, the SEA claimed that two more female engineers have applied for their licenses and should receive them shortly. The SEA expects an upsurge in both membership and applications as a result of this newly implemented process. (Comment: The speed by which the law has been implemented and female engineers have successfully completed the process to open their own firms is affirmation of the SAG's continued push for reform. Nevertheless, there have recently been several media pieces depicting the obstacles business women face in registering their businesses. Specifically, articles commented on the practical need for a 'male representative' to sign for business licenses, even though the Ministry of Commerce has issued laws to the contrary. This imbalance between the licensing process for general businesswomen and that for female engineers exemplifies the contradictions regarding women's rights in the Kingdom. End Comment.) ¶4. (C) The General Presidency for the Two Holy Mosques Affairs issued a proposal on August 25 for shifting the prayer place of women within the circumambulation area -- the uncovered circle surrounding the Kaaba ("House of God") called the mataf-- in the Grand Mosque of Mecca to two larger spaces far away from the Kaaba. This change would prevent women from performing tawaf -- the prayers required as part of the five pillars of Islam -- easily and would also impose restrictions on women's ability to perform the Hajj and Umra with their families. Female scholars and worshippers alike condemned the proposal, which pointed to increased television broadcasting as one of the reasons for the shift, as unacceptable and biased against women (septel). -------------- Tribal Pride Outweighs Shari'a Law -------------- ¶5. (C) Three years and two children into a happy marriage, a Saudi couple in Al-Jouf, a city in the northern part of the Kingdom, have seen their marriage annulled on the grounds that it violated social custom. The Sharia court ruled in favor of the half-brother, who petitioned the court for the annulment because he claimed that his sister was from a noble tribe and should not be married to a non-tribal man. The court ignored the previous Islamicly-valid marriage as well as the father's permission granted for the marriage three years ago. As a result of the court's decree, the woman was forced to separate from her family and return to the home of her half-brother; she chose to go to prison instead of following the court order. (Comment: The ruling of the Al-Jouf court indicates that tribal norms and customs in practice often outweigh Shari'a law. It also reveals the deep-seated prejudices many Saudis have against non-tribal individuals (Ref B). End Comment.) After the decision was made public, there has been much debate over this issue. Many religious conservatives, including Riyadh Supreme Court Judge Ibrahim Al-Khudairi, argued that tribal "fitness" is "an essential element" of marriage. Other editorials criticized the court's decision, including one columnist from Al-Watan newspaper who worried that stories such as this one are what give Islam such a bad name in the West. ¶6. (U) The sub-tribes of the al-Omrah family located in Tannumah, a city in the north of Assir Province, celebrated the end of a four-year dispute. The al-Omrah tribe, noted for its work in agriculture and not for its religious tendencies, ended the dispute on August 27. The dispute was over lack of payment to a tribal social society established for the purpose of centrally coordinating the payment of "blood money" (the money paid as compensation to victims' families following the perpetration of a killing within the tribe). The society was funded by contributions from all of al-Omrah's sub-tribes, and for the past four years contributions were waning. As such, it ran short of money and was unable to pay all of the required compensations, resulting in unresolved tribal conflicts. Tribal leaders reconciled the conflict by paying extra donations to the society. (Comment: Formalizing the "blood money" payments through a funding mechanism, and solving the conflicts arising from it within tribal strictures, demonstrates the trust people place in their tribal leaders as the guardians of their community. Additionally, seeking justice through the traditional payment of "blood money" instead of through the Shari'a courts, intimates the deep-seeded tribal nature of Saudi society. End Comment.) -------------- VIP Visits -------------- ¶7. (U) Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin-Abd-al-Aziz discussed by telephone with French President Jacque Chirac on August 25 the regional and international developments in the Middle East, as well as bilateral relations between Saudi Arabia and France. King Abdullah met with Jordan's King Abdullah II on August 23, and they discussed the latest developments in the region, particularly the events in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories in addition to the situation in Iraq. OBERWETTER