Saudi Arabia

Buy your bribe online

Team Observers — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:46:41 +0100

Published on the website "mstaml".

"Looking for well-connected person ready to accept a bribe for a job in telecommunications. Serious applicants only". In Saudi Arabia, this type of online classified ad is nothing out of the ordinary – it’s just another way to find a job.

The Saudi classified ad website "mstaml" (usager) is one of the most popular in the country, with up to 570,000 daily visitors. At first sight, it’s the Arabic version of any mainstream classified ad site, with postings for real estate, cars, jobs, electrical appliances and the like… On closer inspection, however, the site is peppered with hundreds of ads blatantly advertising all types of corruption, whether it be to obtain a job, a visa or government funding of some kind. According to our Observer, the practice is so common it is almost official.

"Looking for a work certificate for the period going from July 2003 to July 2008 in a large company. Name your price, as long as you get it for me"

Published on the website "mstaml".

Women can't drive, but children can

Team Observers — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 10:46:25 +0200

Women are strictly forbidden from driving in Saudi Arabia. So you can imagine how Susie, an American expat living in Jeddah, feels when she sees boys barely older than ten cruising at the wheel of their flashy SUVs.

Saudi Arabia has one of the highest road accident rates in the world. According to the Saudi transport ministry , there were 485,931 accidents on Saudi roads in 2008, 6,458 of which resulted in loss of life.

Your Observers TV show is back!

Team Observers — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:52:44 +0200

After the summer break, the new Observers TV show is back for its fourth edition. Many thanks to all the Observers who participated: Serigne Diagne, Sandra Miller, Ahmed Al-Omran and Serge.

Presentation: Derek Thomson. Editorial team: Julien Pain, Sophie Pilgrim, Ségolène Malterre, Tatiana El Khoury.

Story 1 - GABON :

It’s been three months since Omar Bongo’s death and many Gabonese are furious… at France. These protesters in Paris are angry because his son Ali Bongo has been elected to succeed him. They say the election was rigged and France – an old friend of the Bongo family - was behind it.

OBSERVER: Serge

Story 2 - SENEGAL:

It’s the rainy season in West Africa… Our Observer Serigne Diagne has been living through floods that have killed hundreds of people, across a dozen countries. He sent us this account.

OBSERVER: Serigne Diagne (also a member of RFI's media workshop, L'Atelier des médias)

Story 3 - UNITED STATES:

This video of chicks being crushed to death was shot in June by a group called Mercy for Animals… at a factory farm in the American Midwest. The factory raises chicks to lay eggs… meaning the male chicks are useless. They’re put on a conveyor belt … and ground up… alive. The group says the factory kills nearly 200 million chicks every year.

OBSERVER: Sandra Miller

Story 4 - SAUDI ARABIA:

Ahmed tells us all about the art of wearing a "ghotra", the traditional Saudi head-dress...Just like wearing a tie, basically.

OBSERVER: Ahmed Al-Omran

Ten ways to wear the ghotra

Team Observers — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:09:35 +0200

If you want to dress right in Saudi Arabia, then you'd better read our Observer's guide to wearing the ghotra - do it wrong and you might be unintentionally dressed as an MP, or just ten years out of date.

In the Gulf, where it is a mandatory accessory in official and educational buildings, almost all men don their ghotra before leaving the house. They're usually made from cotton or polyester, but you can also buy a woolly version for chilly conditions. Bizarrely, the headscarves were traditionally made in the UK and imported to the Gulf. But production has recently shifted to Saudi Arabia, entailing a drop both in price - threefold - and in quality.

One of our Observers in the country, Ahmed Al-Omran, who says he rarely wears the ghotra, received an email with the following instructions, and decided to publish this quick guide to wearing the Ghotra on his blog Saudi Jeans.

Live murder or online flights of fancy?

Team Observers — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:42:10 +0200

According to certain Web users, this violent scene takes place at the border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia. They claim it shows Saudi border patrol guards shooting at a van of Yemeni smugglers until it bursts into flames, while a group of onlookers laugh at the scene.

The video, which began circulating on the Web on August 27, is described by many bloggers as proof that Saudi police care nothing about the lives of Yemeni smugglers. But that may not be the real story behind the video…

Our Observer in Saudi Arabia, Mohammad Al-Saeedi, says the video probably filmed a military training session, with guards shooting at an empty van. Several details on the video give credit to this hypothesis: first, what smuggler in his right mind would deliberately stop his car in front of a fortified border patrol camp? A loud cannon blast at the 21st second of the video appears to signal the beginning of the military exercise. Although you do see the car stop and start again, you also hear that gunshots stop at the 39th second, then someone asks if the rope was hit. According to our Observer, this refers to the rope that was used to keep the driverless car on course. The rope may have been hit a stray bullet. The presence of several soldiers and border police (in red berets) standing by and watching also seems to give credence to the hypothesis of a supervised training session. Finally, no one ducks or runs for cover when the van approaches. Given that smugglers are usually heavily armed, this would have been strangely careless of onlookers had they believed the vehicle to might contain smugglers.

If you have any additional information concerning the video, please contact our team here.

Saudi Arabia’s hidden city

Team Observers — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 18:07:08 +0200

The region of Qasr al-Bint in the city of Mada’in Saleh. Photo: Emmanuel Guyetand.

The grandiose Jordanian city of Petra, carved out of pink rock, is a first-rate tourist destination. So why has its twin city, in the Saudi desert, been forgotten for so long? Because it is said to be under an ancient curse.

This site, in the north-west of Saudi Arabia, is known in the West as Mada'in Saleh, or the towns of Saleh, from the name of the prophet who, according to the Koran, tried long before Mohammed to convert the Thamud tribe to the religion of one God. The town was however not built by the Thamudis, whose presence at this site is not proven archaeologically, but by the Nabateans. Mada'in Saleh constituted the southern point of their kingdom which prospered between the third century BC and the fourth century AD and stretched from the south of Jordan to the north of the Arabian peninsula. The Nabateans also built Petra, their political capital.

The region of Al-Khuraymat in the city of Mada'in Saleh. Photo: Emmanuel Guyetand.

Another view of Al-Khuraymat. Photo: Emmanuel Guyetand.

It was only at the start of the 20^th century that the exploration of this site began. However, very little work was undertaken until 2001, when a Franco-Saudi archaeological mission was given the task of carrying out digs and documenting the site. Mada'in Saleh was listed in July 2008 as a UNESCO World Heritage site, becoming the first Saudi site to feature.

Façade of a tomb. The monumental tombs were no doubt reserved for the notables of the town. Photo taken at Al-Khuraymat by Emmanuel Guyetand.

Funerary rock architecture at Al-Khuraymat. Photo: Emmanuel Guyetand.

TV channel banned in Saudi Arabia for sex talk

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:57:20 +0200

Photo posted on the Facebook group page "Give it what it deserves, boycott the LBC".

Two weeks ago we talked about the Saudi man who was facing jail after disclosing his sexual habits on television. He has since been detained and, if found guilty, could be jailed for 20 years or stoned to death. Meanwhile, the Lebanese channel which aired the programme has been banned from the kingdom indefinitely.

The Jeddah offices of the Lebanese Broadcasting Company (LBC) - a channel largely funded by Saudi billionaire Walid Ben Talal - closed on Saturday by order of Saudi interior minister Prince Nayef Ben Abdul Aziz. The Riyadh offices however, which are considered less important, remain open.

It was the previous Saturday that the guest of Lebanese show "The Red Line", Mazen Abdul Jawad, was arrested by the police and detained. His colourful description of his sex life, aired July 15, caused an outcry in Saudi Arabia, where the media and Internet were flooded with indignant comments over the affair.

Talk openly about sex and risk jail

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:52:58 +0200

A 32-year-old Saudi man could face court for debauchery, premarital sex and for breaking the Islamic code after he was interviewed by a Lebanese channel about his sex life.

If found guilty, divorced father of four Mazen Abdul Jawad will face either 20 years in jail or between 13,000 and 20,000 strikes by horsewhip. It was his revelations on the Lebanese talkshow, "The Red Line" that have left the airline employee facing prosecution. Aired on July 15 on Lebanese channel LBC, his declarations about foreplay, sex toys and frigidity left the conservative Saudi population quite frankly stunned.

Around 100 of the most outraged of these people filed complaints about his actions to the court in Jeddah. Many also contacted his employer, Saudi Arabian Airlines, demanding that he be sacked.

In an interview with daily newspaper Okaz on Saturday, Abdul Jawad begged for forgiveness of the Saudi people, and blamed the incident on the channel. It was them, he said, that supplied the sex toys, and then aired the programme without blurring his face. LBC refutes the allegations, but itself has become a target for the conservatives, who call for it to be banned in the kingdom.

Tell me which country you live in, I’ll tell you which ad to broadcast

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:57:15 +0200

Advertising in Saudi Arabia is a billion euro market - the biggest in the Arab world. In order to get a piece of the cake however, agencies have to customise productions so that women are covered up, and do not use their left hands - even if it's passing a sandwich to their young son.

There are two versions of the following ad, created by Independent Productions. The first is for most Middle Eastern Arab countries; the second, for Saudi Arabia. Watch carefully when the mother hands the sandwich to her son; in Saudi Arabia, it's considered dirty to wave, shake hands with, give or receive something with your left hand.

Jacko’s “Smooth Criminal’’, Saudi style

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:16:03 +0200

One of our Observers for Saudi Arabia, Ahmed Al-Omran, alerted us to these videos. Watching the first one, you might think that southern Saudis are choreographing dance routines to Michael Jackson classics. Watch the second however, and, disappointingly, things fall into place.

Posted on YouTube by "Talal" on May 31, the video has already been viewed more than 100,000 times in just over two weeks.

Posted May 28 by “zaferhadi”, this is the original video. With 400 hits, it’s far less popular than its jazzier sibling. Ahmed tells us that it’s a men’s folk dance called Ardha, which is practised in the south of the country during festivities.