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Brothels and bombs in Saudi
Arabia
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - The suicide bomb attack at the Muhaya
residential compound in the Saudi Arabian capital of
Riyadh on November 9 in which at least 17 people were
killed - most of them foreign Arabs - was neither an
episode of global jihadi terrorism nor part of a
conspiracy to destabilize the House of Saud.
A
Pakistani undercover intelligence operator who recently
returned from Riyadh told Asia Times Online that the
attack was in fact the result of a deep divide within
Saudi society between strict religious conservatives
with little exposure to the outside world, and a more
"liberal" element with the money and power to indulge in
restricted activities.
The compound attacked on November
9 was inhabited mainly by Lebanese, Palestinians
and Egyptians, and it had earned notoriety as
a "pleasure ground" for Saudi "playboys" in a country in
which prostitution is outlawed. Apparently, some of the
female residents of the compound were well known for their
"exotic erotica", for which they were showered with
money and gifts.
According to an Associated
Press report, "Muhaya had a coffee shop where residents
of both sexes chatted over water pipes and watched
foreign movies and other entertainment on a big screen
television. It was located next to a pool where women
swam in bikinis."
The goings-on in the compound
were seemingly known to the authorities, including
agents of the Saudi religious police - the Committee for
the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice - but
nothing had been done about it, much to the anger of
conservatives who wanted to "eliminate the evil in their
society" and what they called the "Arab brothel of
Riyadh".
It was as a result of this anger that
the conservatives decided to bomb the complex, according
to the Pakistani intelligence agent.
Initially,
after the attack, several conservative groups stepped up
their calls in support of the enforcement of strict
rules in the country, but under immense pressure and the
house arrest of two leading clerics by the Saudi
government, these segments condemned "these acts of
terror". The Saudi government has officially blamed
al-Qaeda, even though the group is highly unlikely to be the
culprit.
But though the motives behind the
Riyadh bomb blast were local and social, not political
and global, it shows possible problems ahead:
In the past, dissatisfaction within the ranks of the
conservatives has occurred, but it has been papered
over. In the era of mass communication, though, such
cracks will become increasingly difficult to hide.
The conservative elements in the past have embodied
a religious ideology, to which has now been added a
hatred for the West.
The divide within the House of Saud, in which some
factions support reforms and others do not, is as wide
as ever.
People have started taking the law into their own
hands.
The "pleasure center" at the Muhaya
compound was not the only one of its kind in the
country. More trouble can be expected.
(Copyright 2003 Asia Times Online Ltd. All
rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com for
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policies.)
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