· May, 2008

Stories about Saudi Arabia from May, 2008

Saudi Arabia: Pyschiatric Help for Teachers

  27 May 2008

Saudi blogger Thamood [Ar] suggests increasing the salaries of teachers because of the harassment they are subjected to from students, who ask repetitive questions. He says the money would go towards paying of psychiatric help the teachers would need.

Saudi Arabia: Monkeys and Residents

  22 May 2008

Muqeem in KSA [Ar], from Saudi Arabia, is wondering why authorities haven't taken any measures against the problem residents are having with wild monkeys and asks whether it was because not many citizens live in that particular area.

Saudi Arabia: Dhahran Under Siege

  21 May 2008

Saudi Arabia hosted the Gulf Cooperation Council's Summit in its Eastern province, bringing the leaders of Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and the UAE under one roof - and holding the residents of Dhahran and Dammam hostage for the duration of their meeting as all the main highways leading to and from the city were shut.

Kuwait: Sad for Hadeel

  21 May 2008

Kuwait blogger Rawan mourns the death of Saudi blogger Hadeel - and writes [Ar]: “I don't know why I cried a lot over a person I never knew. Why did I tell my mother and brother and a lot more people about her? Why I did not sleep and continued...

Egypt: A Taxi Driver's Words of Wisdom

  19 May 2008

Israeli-American blogger Daniel Lubetsky, traveling in Egypt, interviews his taxi driver on leading figures in the Middle East. “I asked him to rank people or countries, thumbs up or thumbs down. Here were his rankings on 24 questions from Bush to Ahmadinejad, from Olmert to Nasrallah, from Bin Laden to...

Egypt: Sad for Hadeel

  19 May 2008

Zeinobia, from Egypt, mourns the death of Saudi blogger Hadeel and asks: “I do not know why I feel sad. Is it because Hadeel was young like me , she had just celebrated her 25th Birthday ?? !! Or because she is a blogger like [me] ?? Or because she...

Arabeyes: Mourning for Hadeel

  19 May 2008

Saudi blogger Hadeel El Hadeef passed away exactly a month after her 25th birthday. Bloggers from around the region come together to mourn the death and celebrate the life of the blogger, whose contributions and humanity will continue to remain a living legacy on the world wide web.

Saudi Arabia: Flogging for Professor

  19 May 2008

“A Saudi University professor is facing flogging and imprisonment for breaking the law. He was caught having a cup of coffee with a lady who was not related to him in a coffee shop. He is actually facing an eight month prison sentence and 150 lashes!” explains Saudi blogger Rasha.

Syria: Call to Release Jailed Relatives in Saudi Arabia

  15 May 2008

Or Does it Explode reports on a protest in Damascus, Syria, calling for the release of their relatives, who are imprisoned in Saudi Arabia. According to the blog, Saudi Arabia has sentenced to death at least 28 Syrians for drug possession and jailed hundreds more.

Saudi Arabia: Just Hit, Don't Bite!

  15 May 2008

From Saudi Arabia, Nzingha comments on a news report which says that a Saudi woman attacked and bit a man who was sexually harassing her on a street and says: “Fighting back I'm all for, but biting? Who knows where that pervert has been. A good beat down yes. But...

Saudi Arabia: Human Rights Appeals

  15 May 2008

Two human rights bodies are appealing to Saudi Arabia to drop charges against two Saudis – one for setting up a website and another for sitting with a woman in a coffee shop, reports Saudi Jeans.

Saudi Arabia: Just a Bag?

  12 May 2008

Ibrahim from Saudi Arabia complains [Ar] that while companies mark their anniversaries with valuable prizes for their staff and customers, the company he works with was satisfied with giving their staff bags, made in China. They could have at least given them bags made in Italy, he writes.

Saudi Women Against Late Night Weddings

  9 May 2008

“Apparently many Saudi women believe that late night weddings are highly inconvenient, so they’re campaigning and holding workshops to try and change this tradition,” writes Bahraini blogger Esra'a, who argues that Saudi women should be rallying for other, more pressing issues.

Arabeyes: Freedom for Fouad Al Farhan

  5 May 2008

Saudi blogger Fouad Al Farhan is now a free man, after spending 137 days in detention in Jeddah. While bloggers have all along speculated why he has been held by the authorities for this long, Arab bloggers are unanimously excited over his release. And they also share their hopes for the release of other jailed bloggers.