Unbelievable

Saudi professor faces lashes for having coffee with female 'student'

A university professor allegedly caught in a Saudi-style honey trap has been sentenced to 180 lashes and eight months in jail – for having coffee with a girl.

The man, a prominent and well-respected Saudi teacher of psychology at Umm al-Qra University in the holy city of Mecca, was framed by the religious police after he angered some of their members at a training course, his lawyer said.

The academic has not been named by the local media, which have given his case wide coverage, but one senior Saudi journalist said he was Dr Abu Ruzaiz, a married man in his late 50s with children.

“He is highly respected and above-board. Nobody believes the religious police’s version of what happened. The whole of Jeddah (the main city near Mecca) is in uproar about this. Everyone believes he is innocent and was set up,” the journalist said.

Mr Ruzaiz is said to have received a call from a girl purporting to be one of his students who asked to meet to discuss a problem that she did not want to talk about over the phone. The professor agreed to meet at a family café provided she brought along her brother as a chaperone.

When he arrived, he was surprised to find the girl alone, and was promptly surrounded by religious policemen who handcuffed him and hauled him into custody. He was accused of being in a state of khulwa – seclusion – with an unrelated woman. More here:

By the way - they aren't going to use a wet noodle when they lash him either. Can you imagine wasting your entire life in a place like Saudi Arabia? Hell, they got themselves a witch last week -- I blogged it. A witch, for God's sake. Way to live in medieval times, jackasses.

I love freedom. To me, freedom means the government cannot stop me from doing whatever I want, so long as I'm not hurting someone else physically or financially ... or depriving others of their rights. It is my belief that our founding fathers had that idea in mind when they wrote the constitution. It is my opinion that we've strayed FAR from that ideal and the libs want us to stray further still. I despise anyone who wants to use the government to impose his/her beliefs on me.

Hey, I wonder how many lashes I'd get for posting "Friday pins" pics. Seriously -- no wonder those middle eastern peeps are moving here as fast as they can -- do you blame them?

I ask you -- are these people enslaved? They are if their goverment is imposing this on them in their own country. Should we fight to free them? I mean -- why can't those who wish to live like that do so -- and leave others alone?

This is why our constitution was written -- so we would be governed by the rule of law instead of the whim of jackasses.