57 men in saudi arabia arrested for flirting/dancing

Saudi Arabia arrests 57 men for flirting at mall

Religious police: Men in T-shirts interrogated for dancing to pop music

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updated 11:17 a.m. PT, Sat., Feb. 23, 2008

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RIYADH,

Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia began interrogating 57 men Saturday who

were arrested for flirting with women in front of a shopping mall in

the holy city of Mecca, a local newspaper reported.

The

country's religious police arrested the men Thursday night for behavior

that also allegedly included dancing to pop music blaring from their

cars and wearing improper clothing, reported the Okaz newspaper, which

is deemed close to the government.

Saturday's

newspaper report did not say what kind of outfits the young men were

wearing, but T-shirts emblazoned with drawings or English writing are

often an invitation for harassment by the religious police. Islamic

radicals also consider pop music a corrupting force.

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and

the Prevention of Vice runs the fearsome religious police, which is

charged with enforcing Saudi Arabia's strict Islamic lifestyle. Its

members patrol public places to make sure women are covered and not

wearing make up, the sexes don't mingle, shops close five times a day

for Muslim prayers and men go to the mosque and worship.The

police, informally known as the muttawa (literally "enforcer"), don't

wear uniforms, but are recognizable by their long beards and their

robes, shorter than the ones normally worn by Saudi men. They also shun

the black cord that sits atop the headdress worn by most Saudi men.

Women in Saudi Arabia are required to wear a long, enveloping black cloak called an abaya and cover their hair with a headscarf.The

newspaper report said the men who were arrested Thursday could be

released if they could prove they did not flirt with any women.

Otherwise, they will be transferred to court and stand trial, the paper

added.
 
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