More Syriana Justice

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The horrible treatment South Asian workers receive in Arab nations has been receiving more and more press coverage of late. Hopefully, the spotlight will ensure that something changes for the better but until then, it’s our job to bring forward stories like this –

The imminent execution of a teenage maid in Saudi Arabia drew fierce criticism yesterday…According to the Saudi authorities, Rizana Nafeek admitted strangling the four-month-old boy while feeding him with a bottle.

But Nafeek, whose job was not meant to include child care, has denied making any such admission. She claims the child had begun to choke before losing consciousness in spite of her desperate efforts to clear his airway.

Tonight is the deadline for appeals in the case.

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p>This criminal trial is especially ghastly on 2 counts —

Kate Allen, the director of Amnesty International UK, said: “It is an absolute scandal that Saudi Arabia is preparing to behead a teenage girl who didn’t even have a lawyer at her trial. The Saudi authorities are flouting an international prohibition on the execution of child offenders by even imposing a death sentence on a defendant who was reportedly 17 at the time of the alleged crime.“

Prior SM coverage here and here and here.

87 thoughts on “More Syriana Justice”

  1. Qatar has that ‘softer’ touch. It proscribes to the Wahhabi faith but the country is on a path to make itself a mini-dubai. Many a Saudi queen/princess envy Queen Mozah’s showing her face in public and taking rein of the country’s humanitarian and educational endeavours. The country is trying to take some steps towards improving the conditions of the laborers, however its a rule in Qatar that every company that sets foot ‘should’ have a local Qatari taking the reins and some of these people are old uneducated geezers who harken back to the good old days that a letter from the Indian embassy summoning them over workers rights violation could be thrown into the trash (Now its met with some considerable dread). Hopefully as Qatar makes the transition to educated professionals taking over the reins of the companies the situation will improve.

    The Saudi Rights commision is a joke. The appointment of that woman is just for show to ease international pressure over ‘Woman power’ issues in Saudi. She’s just a figurehead nothing more.

  2. @Louiecypher-

    Being able to relate to an Arab who is being discriminated in America because he looks like an islamic terrorist (brown / middle eastern /swarthy/ ‘almost white’ / whatever you’d like to call it), does NOT have to imply anything about a person and his ‘pan-brown’ world view. I relate to him because America looks at me as if i were an islamic terrorist as well. We have something in common. That is where this ‘ability to relate’ ends.

    Lets not derail this thread any further …

  3. @51: My mistake in the above post i meant that every company that starts up or sets foot should have a Qatari in a position of considerable influence. Not appointed as the CEO

  4. that’s just not true. yes, arabs are swarthy, but many can pass as white (there was that variation among the 9/11 bombers, they ranged from brown to white), and if they are not dressed in muslim garb many can “pass.”

    Yes, but many can not pass as white. Many Arabs in Saudi that I have seen in the news look black. And I’ve met many South Asians who can pass as white. I think within the Arab population and within South Asians there is in Western/American eyes, an ambivalence on where to place them on America’s racial scale of black and white – and that ambivalence is what Arab Americans or South Asian Americans often share. Throw in culture and religion and even more characteristics that these groups WITHIN the US share and so they will together be treated probably the same, which is what Randomizer maybe has experienced. Sure some Americans will notice differences. I’m American and of course I notice differences – hey I notice differences between Keralites and Bengalis.

    Louiecypher – in the US there has been a pan-brown identity; as can be seen in this blog. As can be seen in civil rights groups who represent South Asians or Middle Easterners and have the same issues with civil rights laws.

    Maybe Randomizer is light-skinned. I grew up in the South of the US and I’m dark-skinned and in my small town, where everyone was black and white except for our Indian family and 2 Arab families. Since the Arab family was there before our family moved there and owned alot of commercial property, I was always questioned if I was so and so daughter who owns the hotel by the beach. And in such a community where the Arab and Indian families where new immigrants, my parents and the arab families completely gravitated toward each other. We were very connected – that is until a business deal that my dad did with the arab family went sour – after that it was all arabs are dumb and cheaters…but anyways that’s my dad. Anyways my point being in that small southern town, me with my dark=skinned lemurian, nonscythian self was always confused with the very light-skinned arab family.

  5. The story of the girl in Saudi Arabia is absolutely ghastly. I hope she gets out of it with diplomatic intervention.

    But, like razib says, the other countries in the region aren’t all like SA. I’ve visited Oman and know that it has active communities of observant non-muslims — christians for sure (and, like nowhere else in the world, the malayali orthodox christians worship in the same church building as the …gasp… protestants and catholics), and the non-muslim desis I know who live there do seem genuinely happy and are certainly not there because of economic hardship. And yeah, there are also prominent hindu business families that have been there for a long time and are omani citizens, i believe. Interestingly the country has a large zanzibari-omani population, so maybe omanis are just more used to a diverse population and are therefore less xenophobic.

  6. The only part of the Gulf I’ve visited is Dubai and Abu Dhabi (i.e. the U.A.E), and it left me with mixed feelings. Dubai is probably as liberal as a Muslim Arab country can get…alcohol is freely and openly sold, women can wear what they want within reason (i.e. shorts, skirts, sleeveless tops are ok, bikinis in public are not)…there are some temples and gurdwaras (albeit in quiet side streets, where they try to be as unobtrusive and invisible as possible, there is definitely a very muted and hush-hush atmosphere within), there are some churches as well. Needless to say though, huge, elaborate, very modern mosques on virtually every corner. Amazing nightlife, great hotels, dance clubs, lots of tourists, and lots of expats from many different countries. In terms of desis, they are probably over 80% of the population (with the remainder made up of Europeans, Arabs from other countries like Egypt, Lebanon, etc., and a tiny % being the actual ‘Emiratis’, who are the local, original people who have all the power). Desis can be professional, educated people, with nice houses, cars, etc. but the majority are dirt poor Pakistanis and Indians whose conditions seem very slave-like. Toiling away in the hot desert sun, laying down roads, doing construction, landscaping, you name it. The worst was when our friends took us to see the camel races…all the jockeys were young Muslim boys from Pakistan or Bangladesh…to be in the 21st century, and see practices (the way these boys lived, they way they were treated) that would have been better suited for the Middle Ages, was surreal. Most of these boys eventually become Arabic-speakers, but when newly arrived, they still speak Desi languages (I heard Punjabi and Urdu) and it was just really hard to see these innocents living like that. The cruelty and indifference was just unbelievable.

    It’s also true that desis are 2nd class people there, and if you have any doubts, any encounter with an Emirati would serve to dispel them. The arrogance, the utter degree of the superiority complex, was palpable. They drive like maniacs, and even if they hit you, it’s your fault. Most of the Indians I met socialised exclusively with other Indians, and within those circles they seemed to have a good time and enjoy life. The whole atmosphere is like a super-clean version of India. So like I said…mixed feelings.

    Saudi is supposed to be a very different place though, no comparison to Dubai. Dubai probably seems like Las Vegas compared to Saudi.

  7. louciecypher, your criticism doesn’t make sense in the context of Randomizer’s comments. His claim is logical — there is a different experience of race and identity in Saudi Arabia than in the U.S. I think most would agree with this. While I understand razib’s qualification, “passing” is still a feature of the race system in the U.S.

    At any rate, I don’t understand the conversation going back and forth re: sanctions, invasion, etc. These tactics are rarely invoked on purely human rights/moralistic terms. This episode is awful, and it highlights some of the more disgusting things about the current arrangement of the Saudi Arabian state and legal system. Are we really so surprised? SA has been doing this for years.

  8. Horrible story, I hope the girl is saved and gets a fair trial. Sadly, I have heard terrible things about Saudi Arabia both in general and at my old job by an Indian IT consultant who had once been assigned to an IT project in Saudi Arabia for 8 months. He told me that the people are very rich but would not listen to him and his team on instructions on how to actually use the system that had been implemented (in a bank I believe) when they were training to train them. Later on, when they failed to use the system as intended they kept on blaming the team for not showing them. However, the Indian IT consultant said that during training if they received a personal call from a friend on their cell phone they’d just walk out or tell the trainer to go away and made no effort to learn. In addition, he said social life was the worst he could ever imagine. No theatres or anywhere to go. The locals were extremely rude to him. From what I’ve heard I would never ever think about going there, it’s one of the last places on Earth that I would ever go along with a few war torn African countries. He told me that getting out of Saudi and going back to India and the United States was the best feeling ever. There is a lesson for the desis who are always complaining about how bad India is here, it could be worse!

  9. 56 · Amitabh:

    Dubai….Amazing nightlife

    Only been once and it is probably my cousin’s fault that I have this impression–but it seemed like mostly Russian (or E. Asian) ‘hos at the clubs….

  10. Does India still have diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia? It shouldn’t, considering all the beheadings of Indians without a fair trial. Of course, the Indian government doesn’t give a crap about its citizens. I doubt that the Saudis would be able to behead Americans with such impunity.

  11. Does India still have diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia?

    The King of Saudi Arabia was the chief guest at 2006 (or was it 2005) Republic Day parade.

  13. I lived in Kuwait in my early childhood and while it wasn’t outright hellish like Saudi Arabia can be for desi immigrants, the condescension towards desis in the workplace and in public was often palpable. Thinking back, even in relatively ‘liberal’ and somewhat-decent Kuwait, we had a family friend (Indian citizen) held in jail for two days for speeding, while Europeans/Americans/Canadians would always get off with a warning. The galling part of it all was that the country utterly depended on the technical expertise of Indian/Pakistani professionals in addition to the lower-ski labor of nurses/workers/maids.

    Saudi Arabia, as mentioned earlier, is far worse — we had close family friends who worked there and while the money was decent, the quality of life sucked and being treated like shit, day-in/day-out gets to you. The Indian Embassies in these countries are largely toothless and impotent since there are so many Indians, and the government just doesn’t care (oh, and also economics). But they could start harassing these governments about their mistreatment of their citizens, as a decent country would, and they do have leverage in this case — why? because their citizens keep these damn countries running!!

    I suppose I might be sympathetic to this everpresent Arab notion of victimization if so many Gulf Arab countries didn’t turn around and systematically deprive foreigners keeping their countries functioning of fundamental rights. This situation has profoundly frustrated me for some time, and I wish someone would stand up for the millions of desis living in the region — stand up for their rights, and also their dignity as human beings.

  15. Does India still have diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia?

    The King of Saudi Arabia was the chief guest at 2006 (or was it 2005) Republic Day parade.

    This is incredible – why is the Indian govt so impotent? I’m assuming it is b/c the desi laborers to the ME bring in a ton of money for the Indian economy.

  17. @PS #54 and Camille #57 – Thanks, I didn’t think I was alone in my reasoning

    @jackal #63 – “and I wish someone would stand up for the millions of desis living in the region — stand up for their rights, and also their dignity as human beings.”

    This is going to be really hard, especially when even the local Saudi hardly has any voice of his own against the government. Having a desi standing up for his rights is almost out of the question – considering how easily he could be beheaded if he did something wrong.

    What saddens me to this day is the fact that there are SO many families in south India where the Father in the family is working all alone in the Gulf, trying to provide for his family back in India. You will be surprised to know how many families live like this…. and the poor fellow is not only separated from his family, but is treated like crap in this country. It is terrible what economic conditions force you to do, sometimes. Most of the desis just ignore/avoid the locals and basically ‘stay out of their way’ as much as possible.

    As promised, I have a few more stories/observations to share about life in a strict Islamic country like Saudi –

    • The devotion to prayer is unbeatable. Nothing can get higher priority. 5 times a day, every channel on TV interrupts whatever program it is you are watching to run a screen reminding you that is is now time for a particular prayer. If you are in a mall/supermarket, all the lights go off, there are no transactions … for the 10 minutes of that prayer

    • Generally. muslim Desis are better off than other desis … in fact, out of observation alone, I can say that Muslim desis outnumber Hindu desis by at least 2 to 1.

    • Mullahs have tons of power, and they often parade around town in a jeep with a loudspeaker … often intimidating shopkeepers to close their shutters during prayer time and so on .

    • The treatment of women is despicable. There are certain rules about the men they can be seen with… very restrictive. If there is a woman in a car, she should be on the passenger seat and not the back seat, for if she’s on the backseat, it is presumed she is a prostitute.

    • All women (not just muslims) covered head to toe in the Burkha. Anyone who does otherwise is an open target for physical harassment

    • Oh yeah, this one is amusing – I never knew that the King in a chess set ought to have a cross on it’s head… because all the chess sets in Saudi come with the cross cut off ! Yup , all religious symbols are banned. You could be arrested for displaying any other religious symbol … assembling for prayer of any other religion is illegal, alcohol and porn in illegal as well .

    I would like to see some statistics of the crime rate in Saudi though.. I have a feeling that at least some good has come off its horrendous justice system.

  18. I would like to see some statistics of the crime rate in Saudi though.. I have a feeling that at least some good has come off its horrendous justice system.

    not sure how good any statistics out of saudi will be. the very definition of crime out there is bizarre.

  19. The quote about rights is the best part of the article. as if they know anything about rights….

  20. Perhaps South Asians need to stop going to Saudi and her neighbors for work. Why should you put up with this abuse and injustice? They work you to death and you earn slave wages. They treat you like slaves (beatings, lock-ups, sexual assaults, confiscation of passports etc.) They refuse to grant you any form of legal status in Saudi – and can throw you out at a moment’s notice. And sadly, cruel taskmasters are not limited to one gender: both Saudi men and women treat foreign workers shabbily.

    The Saudis have superiority complex because of their oil wealth. I wonder how they’ll deal with it when the oil dries up (there are only about 60 years of oil supply left)? Then I guess then will be the chance for the rest of the world to dump on them!

  21. the tales of Saudi Arabian hospitality never cease to amaze. Only a feudal populace like south asians can take such abuse, like jollykutty serfs. all that milk in our diets, where does the calcium go, not to the bones, not to the spine, better be vegan, at least there’d be an excuse.

  22. and people get annoyed when i refer to arabia as a backwards place….

  23. and people get annoyed when i refer to arabia as a backwards place….

    It is only thanks to Arabia that we have Arabian Horses, only thanks to Arabian Horses that we have an International Arabian Horse Association (IAHA), only thanks to IAHA, that we have a Michael Brown doing a heck of a job.

    So, no knocking Arabia, ok?

  25. a Michael Brown doing a heck of a job.

    Please show some compassion, Brownie is now socially excluded just like desis and Arabs. As I have been instructed by the other commenters, “Brown-ness” is a big tent and old country animus and Big Easy f*ck ups are all water under the bridge. We stand united in sepiatude

  26. Big Easy f*ck ups are all water under the bridge.

    More like bridge under the water!

  27. Big Easy f*ck ups are all water under the bridge. More like bridge under the water!

    that was good one 🙂

  28. that was good one 🙂

    it pains me to say this, but that was good. rahul, are you the artist formerly known as spoorlam?

  29. rahul, are you the artist formerly known as spoorlam?

    Nope, I am a conglomerate. I am large, I contain multi-dudes. I feed myself setup lines as louiecypher, respond to them as Rahul, and then praise myself as PS. Sometimes, I give ups to louiecypher, or reply to a PS post to mix things up.

  31. rahul, are you the artist formerly known as spoorlam? Nope, I am a conglomerate. I am large, I contain multi-dudes. I feed myself setup lines as louiecypher, respond to them as Rahul, and then praise myself as PS. Sometimes, I give ups to louiecypher, or reply to a PS post to mix things up.

    I guess my lot in life is to play Rahul’s lemurian buffoon like some Johnny Lever….(manly) sigh. You must divert some of your lady fan base my way for my efforts

  32. Your the best Rahul; wish every mutineer was like you !

    …. respond to them as Rahul, and then praise myself as PS…

  33. I guess my lot in life is to play Rahul’s lemurian buffoon like some Johnny Lever….(manly) sigh. You must divert some of your lady fan base my way for my efforts

    louiecypher, you seem like a smart self-aware man. Although, I’d call you a lemurian baboon, given your macaca-ous leanings.

    Your the best Rahul; wish every mutineer was like you !

    Thanks, PS! Although I’m no real mutineer. I’m more like a Zelig in the great war of the Sepias.

  37. SP

    Thank you for your links….I’m at work and haven’t finished watching them, but from what i saw it was informative. I don’t know if South Asians Americans, or even South Asians have organizations that protest this; I want to do a search on the web about that, but haven’t been able to do a thorough one. I’d be very curious if there is any activist orgs in India that address this.

    When I see the exteriour sheen of wealth and modernity of Dubai or Saudi, it makes me sick to my stomach the human pain it takes to create that illusion. I really wish India’s influential Bollywood actors would raise this issue b/c then I think it will encourage others to speak about it.

    If someone else knows of S. Asian activist orgs that address this particular issue please share.