CAIRO: More than 100 people were arrested by Saudi Arabian police for attending a mixed-gender party, local media reported on Wednesday. The arrests highlight the ongoing struggle citizens in the Kingdom are facing to have a “good time,” a Saudi painter told Bikya Masr in a phone interview on Friday. According to the reports, regular Saudi police were joined by religious squads for “the promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice” in the raid on the party in the Saudi resort of al-Taif. “People were having a good time and enjoying themselves,” began the painter, who did not attend the party, but has helped organize dozens in the past. “We just want to have a good time and relax without having to worry about the government and being forced to act in a certain way.” The news website Sabq reported that “more than 100 men and women attended the party. Women took off their abayas (robes) and danced and mixed with men.” A Yemeni singer and two Saudi musicians were also reportedly arrested. Police are looking for the organizers of the party and the owner of the resort. Last July, 7 men and four women discovered the difficulty of partying the hard way after they were handed up to 700 lashes and jail terms ranging to 10 months for attending what authorities called an “immoral†party, a local Saudi newspaper reported on Wednesday. The partygoers, aged between 18 and 37, received their sentences amid little protest from within the country. The 11 people include two Iraqis and 9 Saudis, according to Al Watan newspaper. They were arrested in the northern district of Al Ha’il in late June for “drinking†alcohol and attending a mixed-gender gathering, which is forbidden in the conservative nation. The newspaper reported that police said they had kept the group under surveillance for days before making the arrest after the party “fanatics†left their “debauched†late-night party. According to the police report, the group had been drinking arak, a strong alcohol made from dates. It is a popular drink in Lebanon and was hidden in soft-drink bottles in one of the vehicles. Saudi law forbids the drinking of alcohol and has doled out the usual punishment for the drinkers: a public lashing. Even worse was the gathering of both men and women, which is strongly shunned and forbidden by law unless the couple is married. BM
