Arrest after breakfast in Saudi

Strange things that defy logic and reasoning continue to occur in Saudi Arabia. Rules seem to be set overnight followed by arrests, smacking of vindictiveness, that mystify. In the latest instance, Saudi authorities have arrested an Arab man who appeared in a video having breakfast with a female colleague. Nothing wrong in that. But the Ministry of Labour and Social Development said the man was arrested for appearing in an “offensive video” and cited violations of rules including those “regulating women’s placement at work.” Local news platform Saudinews50 said that the woman was arrested as well. Authorities did not reveal their nationalities. The man speaks in an Egyptian dialect in the video and it was not clear if the woman was Saudi. “The labour ministry arrested an expatriate in Jeddah after he appeared in an offensive video,” said the ministry’s statement. “Come have breakfast with us,” the man, identified in the local media reports by a single name, Bahaa, says during the video. The video also shows the woman feeding him a piece of food. The video went viral, eliciting a backlash from conservatives in the kingdom. The labour ministry said it arrested the man in the “offensive video” with a woman at the reception area of a Jeddah hotel. The man is also accused of “working in a profession reserved for Saudis,” the ministry said without explaining the nature of the job. The highly religious kingdom has strict laws defining how unrelated men and women can dine together. Public space in Saudi Arabia is traditionally segregated, restaurants usually separate space dedicated to families from men’s. Married couples usually carry an official proof of marriage in case they are stopped while walking together. The coastal city of Jeddah, where the man and the woman were arrested, has numerous upscale cafés and restaurants that do not enforce segregation. The Saudi public prosecutor’s office posted a warning on Twitter that foreigners working in the Kingdom should “respect Saudi values, traditions, and feelings.” The following day, it released another statement warning that people face up to five years in prison for producing, posting online, sending or saving materials that “violate public order, religious values, public morality, or the sanctity of personal life.” Saudi Arabia has been encouraging women to join the workforce and has relaxed some of its strictest regulations on women and social life, including allowing women to drive and attend football games in stadiums. The arrest is at odds with the much-touted reform efforts of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman which seemed to be progressing with the Kingdom’s lifting of a ban on women driving but took a U-turn with the May arrest of at least 11 women activists.