]]>Riyadh meeting to clarify the concept of halal food
MD RASOOLDEEN | ARAB NEWSRIYADH: The Kingdom will host the first ever international conference on halal food in the Saudi capital on Sunday, Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) Chairman Mohammed Al-Kanhal announced in Riyadh Saturday .
Speaking at a press conference held at the SFDA headquarters, Al-Kanhal said the event, which will be held under the aegis of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, has attracted representatives from more than 20 countries.
…
The result of having two operating systems is that they sometimes conflict. While calculations will say that the month should start on Day X, weather or sky conditions may prevent a human from seeing the crescent moon on that day. For that observer – and the country that follows this system – the month might not start until X+1 or X+2. When communities were small and not really communicating with one another, this didn’t matter much.
Today, though, almost every part of the world is connected. People fly to attend Haj; they travel to spend Ramadan or the Eids with their families. Airlines rely on strict scheduling, run by math. If people are booking tickets to arrive on a particular day, the airlines are not capable of simply shifting the flights or the validity of the tickets, because their entire systems are rigid.
Saudi Gazette reports that the Muslim World League is sponsoring a conference in Mecca to try and sort out the issue. The purpose of the meeting is to unite the Islamic world, but I doubt that’s going to happen. The Saudi Grand Mufti has laid down his opening bid, saying that the traditional method has been the preferred method.
]]>Conference on astronomical calculations begins in Makkah
Ahmad Wahaj Al-Siddiqui | Saudi GazetteMAKKAH — A two-day Muslim World League conference on lunar months and astronomical calculations began here Saturday.
The conference is being attended by Sheikh Abdul Aziz Aal Al-Sheikh, Grand Mufti of the Kingdom, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Abdul Mohsin Al-Turki, Secretary General of MWL, Sheikh Saleh Bin Abdul Aziz Aal Al-Sheikh, Minister of Islamic Affairs, Call and Guidance, and scholars of other Muslim countries.
Al-Turki said the meeting had been called to deliberate on the issue of astronomical calculations. Scholars discussed if calculations could be used to unite the Muslim Ummah in determining the fast of Ramadan, Haj and the two Eids.
…
Now, there’s a proposal that the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice hire women to serve as guards in newly-built fitting rooms. They would assure the privacy of women trying on goods, make sure there are no hidden cameras, and likely act to make sure no unbought clothing wanders away. It, too, provides more jobs for women. Since a basic premise of Saudi society seems to be that people are not to be trusted except under the eye of guardians of various types, I suppose this is a good solution. Saudi Gazette reports…
]]>Hai’a to employ women to oversee ladies’ fitting rooms
AL-KHOBAR – The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Hai’a) will soon employ female supervisors to oversee female fitting rooms which will be set up in the country’s malls, Al-Yaum reported on Saturday.
Informed sources told the newspaper that the Hai’a will soon issue a decision to this effect.
The task of the Hai’a female supervisors will be to ensure that no Shariah violations are committed. This comes in the wake of calls for the Hai’a to replace male supervisors with female ones. Many citizens also want the Hai’a to create jobs for female citizens.
…
Saudi Gazette is reporting that publishers and editors are taking a big step back from supporting their own journalists. They have agreed to comply with the new press and publications law by directly docking the pay of writers whose work is found to be offensive. I can’t see how this will improve editor/writer relations or employee loyalty, but it does get the publishers off the hook for financial damages and, perhaps, from being shut down – temporarily or permanently – by the government. It certainly wouldn’t encourage me to become a journalist in the Kingdom. I do hope those Saudis now studying journalism are paying attention. They may wish to revise their career plans.
]]>Media houses to dock journalists’ pay for press law violations
Omar Elmershedi | Saudi GazetteJEDDAH – A number of the Kingdom’s media houses are preparing to dock the pay of their journalists for any fines incurred for misreporting and defamation under the country’s newly-revised Press and Publications Law.
Reporters and opinion writers face fines of up to SR500,000 for violating the legislation.
Saudi Gazette has learned that media owners are redrafting contracts to allow them the legal right to deduct fines from the salaries of their staff.
The revised contract of a major Saudi publishing company now reads: “The first party in this contract (the publishing company President/Director-General), could with no legal consequences, deduct from the monthly pay of the author/writer (the second party in this contract), the necessary sum to pay for the financial fine imposed on him/her (the second party author/writer), by the appointed press committee of the Ministry of Culture and Information.”
…
Both of those commodities, though, are valuable as either exportable goods or in alternative uses. Solar power is still mostly unexploited and the Kingdom receives massive amounts of sunlight, from 4-8 Kilowatt Hours per square meter of surface, depending on the season. Efforts are now being made to capture that sunlight to drive desalination plants, as the Saudi Gazette article reports. Saudi Arabia is poised to become the world leader in the production of solar energy, reaching 20 Gigawatts over the coming years.
KSA to go solar to raise water desalination plant output
Joe Avancena | Saudi GazetteDHAHRAN – Prince Turki Bin Saud Bin Mohammed Al-Saud, Vice President for the Research Institutes Office at King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), will deliver a policy address on the application of solar energy in developing water desalination as a strategic choice for the Kingdom at the First Saudi Renewable Energy Conference and Exhibition to be convened on February 19, at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.
… The Al-Khafji solar-powered desalination plant, expected to be completed by the end of this year, will produce 30,000 cubic meters of desalinated water per day to meet the needs of some 100,000 people.
KACST will also build another desalination plant using solar energy with a production capacity of 300,000 cubic meters per day at a site now being determined. More water desalination plants using solar energy in various locations in the Kingdom will be constructed within the next 10 years, according to the KACST water desalination development plan using solar energy.
…
Meanwhile, Arab News reports on efforts to promote water conservation.
]]>Too late. As Arab News reports, not only does he now have the highest religious authority in the Kingdom calling, literally, for his head, but apparently he offended King Abdullah as well [link goes to Arabic source].
Ifta wants Kashghari tried for apostasy
ARAB NEWSRIYADH: In a new development in the case of Saudi writer Hamza Kashghari, who wrote a few tweets that were considered slanderous to Almighty Allah and His Prophet (peace be upon him), the Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Religious Edicts (Ifta) issued a strongly worded statement in which it said mocking Allah or His Prophet is a downright sacrilegious act, kufr (infidelity) and apostasy that should no go undetected, local daily Al-Eqtisadiah reported Thursday.
“Whoever dares make a mockery of Allah, the Prophet or the Holy Book undermines the religion and displays enmity toward it. It is the duty of the rulers to try such a criminal,” the committee said, warning Muslims to stay away from such practices so as to avoid exasperating God.
The committee issued its statement after a meeting under its chairman Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh, the Grand Mufti.
…
Various media pieces note that Kashghari fled to Southeast Asia. The Washington Post reports that he did, in fact, go to Malaysia, where an American human rights activist, David Keyes of Advancing Human Rights conversed with him by phone. According to Keyes, Kashghari has been detained by Malaysian authorities pending extradition back to Saudi Arabia.
Keyes notes that this case has the makings of an international cause cause célèbre. International jurists are starting to line up to argue against his extradition. If he ends up being sent back, there will be loud and broad international calls for mercy.
Non-prosecution does not seem to be an available goal. Because Saudi Arabia closely follows Shariah law, it will be compelled to follow its rulings. The Quran [2:217] appears to consider apostasy to be a serious sin/crime, but that is to be punished in the afterlife. Numerous ahadith, however, call for the death of the apostate. The question is under debate in various parts of the Islamic world, but for the ulema in Saudi Arabia, the question is settled.
Saudi writer Hamza Kashgari faces charge of blasphemy
after tweets about Muhammad
David KeyesSaudi journalist Hamza Kashgari was detained in Malaysia on Wednesday night and is likely to be extradited soon to Saudi Arabia, where he will be tried for blaspheming religion. Kashgari, 23, had fled the kingdom Monday after he received thousands of death threats. His crime? He posted on Twitter a series of mock conversations between himself and the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
… The tweets came to light last week around a celebration of Muhammad’s birthday, and Kashgari’s ordeal began. Hours before he was detained, Kashgari spoke to me by phone from the house in which he was hiding. “I was with sitting with my friends and one of them checked Twitter on his mobile phone,” he said. “Suddenly there were thousands of tweets of people calling to kill me because they said I’m against religion.”
…
Saudi Arabia is not exactly a theocracy: the religious leaders are not also the secular leaders. Islam is so important that the government does things like send out a quarter million copies of the Quran. But Islam and Shariah law are so intertwined in the Kingdom that religious judgments hold the force of law; many things which would be sins are also crimes. International human rights generally see sin as a moral failing and crime as a subset of those failings. Not all sins, however, are crimes. Certain things, like the ability to change or to leave one’s religion are seen as fundamental human rights, guaranteed to all mankind. Shariah law does not agree.
The recent years have seen conflicts over this issue in several countries. In some, human rights advocates have been able to exert sufficient pressure to save the lives of the apostates; in others, they have failed. We’ll have to see how the case of Hamza Kashghari works out, starting with his extradition.
]]>The reason is that it is the sensibility of the one who is offended that triggers action and that truth is no defense. All that is necessary is that one’s feeling are hurt. Judges will not have a hard time determining that someone’s feeling were hurt: the victim is standing in front of them. There’s no way to disprove hurt feelings.
To be safe, Saudi bloggers or users of Facebook and Twitter had simply best be quiet. That, in fact, may be the goal of this law, to simply shut down social commentary. If the law were to be applied uniformly, across society, Saudi Arabia would become a very silent place.
]]>Shariah press courts awaits Cabinet reading
Omar Elmershedi | Saudi GazetteJEDDAH — Special draft legislation to deal with media activities has been approved by the Lajnah Al-Khubra (Experts Committee), a source at the committee told Saudi Gazette recently.
The legislation, which refers all disputes and claims to a specialized branch of courts under the existing Shariah court system, awaits its first reading by the Council of Ministers, the source said.
The legislation was drafted in response to a Shoura (Consultative) recommendation made a year and a half ago.
The Shoura Council had first suggested establishment of specialized Shariah courts to deal with compensation for the maligned or injured parties in areas such as public rights in traffic violations, sports contracts, violation of building codes, and the import of substandard material and products.
…
The criminal potential of prepaid cell phones is now the focus of the government of Saudi Arabia. Arab News reports that the government will be proceeding with regulations that require positive identification when one purchases a prepaid mobile phone. Prepaid cell phones – known to law enforcement as ‘burners‘ or ‘throw aways’ – are handy. To buy one involves minimal cash outlay and no long-term service contract, both of great utility to people of modest means. In most instances, purchase also does not require any identifying information: all you need is the cash.
Unfortunately, because they can be bought anonymously, these phones can also be readily used for nefarious purposes. Viewers of the HBO TV series ‘The Wire’ should be well-acquainted with the concept. Anonymous phones are used in criminal and terrorist activity, such as being used to detonate bombs.
Is it an invasion of privacy to require people buying phones to provide identification? Off hand, I don’t think so. There are many other ways to be involved in politics anonymously.
]]>CITC firm on use of ID number to recharge prepaid SIM cards
ARAB NEWSRIYADH: Abdullah Al-Darrab, governor of Saudi Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), said the commission would go ahead with its earlier decision to enter the user’s ID number, together with a prepaid card number, to use a prepaid cell phone SIM card.
The telecom regulator aims to end the practice of misusing SIM cards by anonymous persons, including criminals, Al-Watan newspaper reported on Sunday.
Al-Darrab said, “We are still resolved to implement the decision. Telecommunications companies operating in the Kingdom had asked for a time period to make the necessary changes in their system to support the regulation.”
…
Electricity is cheap in the KSA; it is heavily subsidized. According to reports in 2010, the cost of generating electricity was SR 0.372/kWh, but the price, on average, is only SR 0.135/kWh (US$0.04/kWh, compared to US rates ranging from $0.12-$0.50/kWh). Things that are ‘free’, or close to it, aren’t valued by consumers. Wasting it doesn’t seem like much of a big deal, so it is wasted.
Requiring that air conditioning machinery, for example, be high-efficiency equipment could certainly help – air conditioning is the largest user of domestic electricity. Requiring the use of double-glazing of windows or the use of thermal glass, at least in new construction, would also reduce demand. Traditional construction methods, with thick walls to provide insulation, were developed to reduce the transmission of heat. They were more efficient than newer construction methods, but had notable flaws like the expense of building and maintaining them. Using better materials for traditional methodology might be worth examining, too.
]]>Power demand to grow by 8%
ARAB NEWSRIYADH: A major challenge faced by the Kingdom’s electricity sector is that the demand for power in the country is growing at the rate of 8 percent annually, the highest in the world, according to the President of the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) Muhammad Al-Suwayyil.
He added that the challenge would be tackled with the help of the newly established Saudi Energy Efficiency Center. “The center will help the government’s efforts to rationalize power consumption by increasing efficiency of consumption and consolidating efforts of related departments,” Al-Suwayyil said while opening an international workshop on Kingdom’s energy efficiency and energy policies at the KASCT on Monday.
…
The borders are problematic for several reasons. The first is the infiltration of terrorists and weaponry, particularly now that Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has moved out of the Kingdom and into Yemen. Then there is general smuggling, of contraband like alcohol and drugs into the country and petroleum products, foodstuffs, and animal fodder out. Undocumented laborers from Yemen as well as East Africa have used the southern border as points of entry that are now being closed.
The shorter, northern border is less problematic in terms of terrorists entering, but its porosity has been an issue when it came to young would-be jihadis traveling to Iraq either directly across the border or by traveling through Jordan and Syria en route. The northern border is of concern, though, for the smuggling of contraband and weapons into the Kingdom.
]]>812-km northern border fence to be completed ‘within days’
Saudi GazetteRIYADH – Construction will be completed in the next few days on the 812-kilometer security fence along the Kingdom’s northern border with Iraq and Jordan, said Lt. General Zamim Bin Juwaiber Al-Sawat, Director General of the Frontier Guard.
Al-Sawat was quoted in Al-Watan newspaper on Saturday as saying that the fence will help the authorities tackle drug smuggling and infiltration attempts by Al-Qaeda operatives.He said the northern fence will provide protection for Arar, where the Frontier Guards’ command center is located, in addition to 18 administrative centers in the region inhabited by 371,000 people.
The Frontier Guard will soon start working on a border fence for the Kingdom’s southern border with Yemen and Oman.
…