Crisis in Tahrir

Saudi Arabia arrests foreigner for celebrating New Year’s with balloons

| 1 January 2012 | Comments (7)

Celebrating the new year in Saudi Arabia is banned.

DUBAI: A foreign resident in Saudi Arabia was arrested by the country’s religious police on New Year’s Eve for displaying balloons to celebrate the new year, the daily news website Sabq reported.

According to the report, the man – described as an Arab expatriate living in the country – was arrested as he was walking though the streets in violation of the ban of celebrating the New Year in the ultra-conservative Gulf kingdom.

In December, Sheikh Abdel Aziz bin Abdullah, the country’s top Muslim cleric, deemed celebrations of the New Year, birthdays and marriage anniversary un-Islamic.

The arrest highlights the ongoing conservatism in the country, and comes after religious police have been cracking down on citizens for breaking “un-Islamic” laws in the country.

Late last year, a report published by a leading Islamic scholar in the country warned that if women were given the right to drive it would lead to the end of virginity in the country, angering many activists who have called for greater freedoms in the country.

“We have been fighting for our rights and these continued arrests show we have not gotten very far,” said Mona Abdullah Aziz, a 24-year-old Saudi activist living in Dubai. She told Bikyamasr.com that “the way the government arrests people, men and women, for wanting to live their lives is wrong on all levels.”

BM

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Section: Latest News, Saudi Arabia

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  • OnCeUpOnAcRiMe

    Saudi Arabia has gone too far

  • Mohammad

    It’s difficult to understand, but it’s a Good Decision.
    Hints: We are living for very few days on the earth. It’s not our real living place
    Questions auto arises in every mind/heart if there any;
    1. Where / which is the Real Living Place then?
    2. What is the Relation between New Year and the Living Place?

    Genius and lovely you are.

    A1.After death there is big big…   1 world for every 1 and that’s not like our countries/ world. Off course 1.2.3… millions… Time clean, perfumed, rich, lavish….

    A2.simply in 1 word understands pls. The creator of that world doesn’t like that
     
     
     
     Yours Obedient Brother  Mohammad IT Eng.
    Mohammad

  • Pemerhatidunia

    Islam is the reason. Identic with the communist.  

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_RRQIQ3GR37CCUO43UHQ5G5HPMY Ace

      Wait what?

    • Logarithm

      If Islam is the reason how come Muslims celebrate the New Year’s eve around the globe ? how come other Islamic countries do not ban such celebration ? Pemerhatidunia, you need to understand the culture and the politics of the area