Saudi Woman Killed for Chatting on Facebook

“A young Saudi Arabian woman was murdered by her father for chatting on the social network site Facebook.” The Guardian‘s Damien McElroy:

The unnamed woman from Riyadh was beaten and shot after she was discovered in the middle of an online conversation with a man, the al-Arabiya website reported.

The case was reported on a Saudi Arabian news site as an example of the “strife” the social networking site is causing in the Islamic nation. Saudi preacher Ali al-Maliki has emerged as the leading critic of Facebook, claiming the network is corrupting the youth of the nation. “Facebook is a door to lust and young women and men are spending more on their mobile phones and the Internet than they are spending on food,” he said.

The woman was murdered in August but her death was highlighted following Maliki’s comments.

Ugh.

FILED UNDER: Gender Issues, Religion, , , , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Triumph says:

    al-Maliki has emerged as the leading critic of Facebook, claiming the network is corrupting the youth of the nation.

    And to think we let this guy become Prime Minister of Iraq.

  2. Patrick T. McGuire says:

    The sad aspect of this story, which doesn’t seem to be out there yet, is that the father will not be prosecuted for this, or if he is, he will be exonerated. In the eyes of the Saudis, the murder victim was the offender, not her father.

  3. Bithead says:

    Hmmm.
    This goes back to a conversation I had here with… well, I forget who, actually… that all cultures are not equal, nor should they be treated as such.

  4. lunacy says:

    Triumph,

    The al Maliki in this news story is not the same al Maliki who is in Iraq.

    The Saudi is Sheikh Ali al-Maliki.

    The Iraqi is Nouri al-Maliki. Sometimes knows as Jawad al-Maliki. But never SHEIKH al-Maliki.

    So, no, we didn’t let this guy be PM of Iraq.