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JEDDAH – A 27-year-old Saudi man has been sentenced to one year in prison and 200 lashes of the whip for impersonating a uniformed military officer and performing “acts improper and against Islamic teachings” on a Bluetooth recording that circulated on the Internet.

The ruling, issued by Jeddahs District Court on Tuesday, also includes a fine of SR5,000.

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RIYADH – Officers and privates injured in clashes with the infiltrators on the Kingdoms southern border are expected to receive awards of SR50,000 and SR30,000 respectively, according to sources.

Committees have been assigned to carry out the order of Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz to hand over special awards to injured soldiers involved in the clashes.

King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, had previously ordered the payment of one million riyals to each family of military personnel killed defending the southern borders. The Kings order included granting the deceased higher ranks and employing their sons or brothers in the military. – Okaz/SG

ABU DHABI – The “death fatwa” pronounced last month by Sheikh Abdulrahman Bin Nasser Al-Barrak in which he deemed lawful the killing of anyone permitting “ikhtilat” – mixing of the sexes – in the workplace or in education was met by condemnations from a variety of writers and scholars, but perhaps the most unexpected has come from a Saudi woman contestant in the latest round of the televised poetry contest “Sha’ir Al-Milyoun”.
Poetess Hissa Halal took to the stage in full veil and clip-microphone before a studio audience of tens of thousands and millions of others on the other side of the screen to denounce in verse Al-Barrak’s fatwa and the “fatwa chaos” in the Arab World.
Speaking to the Al-Arabiya news network, Halal – nom de plume “Raimiya” – said that she wrote the poem to “announce my rejection of the fatwa chaos which has got worse in recent times and which legitimizes bloodshed, and some of which are made out of personal interests”.
Her verse speaks of “The evil I’ve seen emerging from the eyes of fatwas.”
“I’m not against ‘innocent ikhtilat’,” Halal said. “I’m against ikhtilat that leads to social flaws and immorality, but ikhtilat in workplaces and conferences and symposiums and that doesn’t impinge on the dignity of men or women or on morals is harmless and should not be forbidden.”
The panel of judges on the hugely popular “Million Riyal Poet” contest, which is televised from Abu Dhabi to audiences across the Arab World, was fulsome in its praise for Halal’s verses, saying it “bravely addressed a public concern, a concern of the Ummah in the current times, and which is an important and sensitive topic”.
One judge said the poem represented a “powerful response to Al-Barrak’s fatwa”.
Halal has reached the semifinal stage of the competition, leaving in her wake some 14,000 poets from across the Arab World. – SG

TABUK – Ahmad Abdullah Al-Khelawi, the brother of Ali Abdullah Al-Khelawi who is on trial in Jakarta on charges of financing terrorism has said there is no evidence of his brothers involvement in the July 17 attacks on the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels last year that killed seven people.

Ahmad, who attended last Wednesdays hearing, said that the “500 riyals hes accused of offering to finance the attacks is not enough for such a thing”.

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The American International School of Jeddah (AISJ) organized Thursday a one-day carnival with the aim of highlighting the role of schools – educationally, socially and culturally – in society.

“School is not only a place of education, but also of social responsibilities, cultural exchange and tolerance between generations and nations,” said Dr. Mark A. English, superintendent of AISJ. He said the carnival reflected the “good role of AISJ in the community” and that “income generated from the event would be used for the community and the school”. The carnival, that was first held five years ago, was attended by American Consul General Martin R. Quinn, who later distributed prizes to the winners, participants and sponsors of the event.

Activities in the event, from 10 A.M. to 8 P.M., included performances by a Hijazi folklore troupe, a Saudi traditional dance group and a local English singer. Martiza, from Argentina, who was one of the enthusiastic girls attending the carnival, said she liked the music bands at the event, as “they sang the best songs from all over the world”.

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RIYADH – Customs officials at Al-Batha and Al-Hadeetha crossing points on the borders with the United Arab Emirates and Jordan respectively seized on Thursday over 1.5 million riyals of undeclared money and 81,000 narcotics pills.

A statement from Saudi Customs said that four separate attempts to smuggle Captogon pills into the Kingdom were foiled at Al-Hadeetha when the drugs were discovered in a suitcase, in two bags hidden inside a smugglers underpants, strapped to a mans legs, and in the fourth instance hidden inside the dashboard of a car-transporter truck.

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JEDDAH – Saudi bank credit to the private sector edged up 0.2 percent in January, official data showed, raising hopes lenders were becoming less cautious in the biggest Arab economy.

Saudi bank credit growth was flat throughout much of 2009 due to global turmoil and after defaults by local family firms.

Bank credit to the private sector rose to 709.8 billion riyals ($189.3 billion) in January after 708.77 billion riyals in December, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) said in its monthly report on Tuesday.

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JEDDAH – Saudi Arabias index TASI opened lower mirroring similar sentiment in other Gulf markets as index heavyweight Saudi Basic Industries Corp dropped 0.3 percent.

The index TASI dropped 0.3 percent.

Financial stocks also dropped with Kingdom Holding falling 1.3 percent and Samba Financial Group falling 0.9 percent.

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JEDDAH – Saudi Arabia will keep its reverse repurchase rate at a record low until there is an increase in bank lending in the Arab worlds biggest economy, Jadwa Investment Co. said.

“The reverse repo rate is at an all-time low of 0.25 percent in order to encourage banks to lend,” Riyadh-based Jadwa said. The Saudi central bank “is expected to maintain this rate at its present level until there is a sustainable pick-up in bank lending to the private sector.”

Saudi banks have tightened lending and increased provisions against bad loans in the worlds largest oil exporter, as the economy slowed and Saudi Saad Group and Ahmad Hamad Al-Gosaibi Group defaulted. Bank lending to non-government companies fell by 14.5 billion riyals ($3.9 billion) in December, the largest decline since November 2004, Jadwa said in the report.

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DUBAI – Al Rajhi Capital, the investment arm of Saudi Arabias Al Rajhi Bank 1120.SE and Bahrains Arcapita Bank has launched a $500 million Gulf property income fund to capitalise on falling prices, the firms said on Monday.

The two companies will seed a joint investment of $50 million for the fund, which will focus on logistics warehouses, health care and education-related assets in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Arab region, they said in a statement.

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