The Times of London has a stunning story today about an American businesswoman and married mother of three who was jailed and abused by Saudi Arabian police for sitting in public with men not related to her. The story says that U.S. embassy officials have spoken with the woman, but when I asked White House press secretary Tony Fratto about the incident this morning, he was not aware of it. It's yet another example of the draconian and oppressive regime in Saudi Arabia, which has also jailed a Saudi blogger for writing things that were critical of the government. When President Bush visited Riyadh last month, I wrote about jailed Saudi blogger Ahmed al-Farhan and also about the Saudi blogosphere. Taking a quick look at some of the Saudiblogs, however, I don't see any mention so far of this latest incident. But one Saudi blogger, Carol Fleming, told me by e-mail today that the story "is making a lot of news and discussion right now." Mrs. Fleming, who is also an American woman living in Saudi Arabia, said that "according to the laws here, [the woman who was arrested] took a calculated risk." "The Mutawa [religious police] were within their rights of the law for challenging and apprehending her. However what happened thereafter is atrocious. As a businesswoman and married to a Saudi she should have known the laws," Mrs. Fleming said. "She could have gone to about any 5 star hotel and used the wireless internet in the lobby while enjoying coffee and chatting business with her colleagues. The 5 star hotels are pretty much informally off-limits to the Mutawa especially as 98 per cent of the hotels are owned by the government ministry and/or Royal family members." The religious police are controlled by forces in the government that are not necessarily friendly to the ruling government of the Saudi royal family. Mrs. Fleming adds: "This probably would not have happened in Jeddah which is like a different country let alone different city with its openness as compared to Riyadh." — Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times

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