Saudi restaurant owner faces 90 lashes for hiring two veiled women

You know, it's easy to look at a story like this and say, "The Saudis are very different from us."

Today's Arab News is has a story about Saudi restaurant owner Nabeel Al-Ramadan. In 2004, he hired two women who wore veils to take telephone orders for the eatery. Local officials complained--my guess is that it was the notorious Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice--and the two women were fired.

End of story? Not in Saudi Arabia, as the Arab News explains:

Restaurant owner Nabeel Al-Ramadan said he was surprised by a phone call from a local court judge asking him to meet him immediately.

When Al-Ramadan asked if it was all right to bring his lawyer, the judge told the businessman that he wanted to see him alone.

When Al-Ramadan arrived in the court, the judge informed him that he had been sentenced in absentia to 90 lashes to be administered in clusters of 30 apiece. The charge against him was violating dignity and decorum.

Vile. Oh, by the way, why do the Western feminist organizations only rarely speak out about the lack of women's rights in Islamic countries?

Technorati tags: عنالأم المملكة Saudi Arabia Muslim Women Sharia Women/'s rights Islam