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| Movie theaters and nightclubs are prohibited, but theaters are allowed on the ] compounds albeit any films shown are censored and available long after they have been released in America or Western Europe. Westerners often prefer to use the theatre for the exhibition of local musicians, plays, and artists. It is unlikely that the production of plays is subject to any official censorship board as many of the comedy plays often make jokes about American politicians and even include characters that cross-dressed. | Movie theaters and nightclubs are prohibited, but theaters are allowed on the ] compounds albeit any films shown are censored and available long after they have been released in America or Western Europe. Westerners often prefer to use the theatre for the exhibition of local musicians, plays, and artists. It is unlikely that the production of plays is subject to any official censorship board as many of the comedy plays often make jokes about American politicians and even include characters that cross-dressed. | ||
| Satellite television is illegal, but the rule is generally ignored and thus members of the middle class can gain access to less censored Arabic and English news and entertainment. |
Satellite television is not illegal, but the rule is generally ignored and thus members of the middle class can gain access to less censored Arabic and English news and entertainment. | ||
| === Civil Rights Laws === | === Civil Rights Laws === | ||
Revision as of 20:56, 15 February 2006
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Gay rights are not recognized in Saudi Arabia and homosexuality is a crime punishable by death. However, there exists an underground gay community. The treatment of homosexuals has prompted criticism from international human rights organizations, but the government defends its actions as being mandated by Islam.
Criminal Code
All criminal and civil law is based on an interpretation of Sunni Wahabi Islam. Foreigners should not expect their nationality to grant them immunity from the local law. Furthermore with the exception of commercial law, most of the legal code is unwritten and left up to the discretion of the Islamic judges.
All sexual activity outside of a traditional heterosexual marriage is a crime, some of these crimes carry a maximum penalty of execution. As none of the criminal code is written down, the precise punishments for being convicted of homosexuality or sodomy varies but will likely include imprisonment, lashes, or amputation of a limb.
People accused of homosexuality may be sexually abused by the police or sent to a mental institution for treatment. The government still beheads a handful of people each year for engaging in homosexual relations between consenting adults in private.
Criminal trials may occur in secret, and defendants may not have access to a translator or a lawyer. Prisoners are sometimes subject to cruel treatment.
See also:
- Guardian: Saudi Arabia's tough line on gays
Right To Privacy
No right to privacy exists. The government can, with a court order, search homes, vehicles, places of business and intercept private communications. People living in the kingdom should assume that communications can be seized by the government for evidence in a criminal trial.
Censorship
Since the 1990s, Saudi newspapers have been permitted to make occasional reference to homosexuals, often in terms of criminal law or the number of people infected with AIDS in the kingdom. A publication, television station, film, song, internet website that endorses gay rights would be banned or blocked for its "un-Islamic" themes. The Saudi government has blocked access to numerous online websites dedicated to gay Muslims and Arabs, but has loosened these restrictions after international protests.
Movie theaters and nightclubs are prohibited, but theaters are allowed on the Aramco compounds albeit any films shown are censored and available long after they have been released in America or Western Europe. Westerners often prefer to use the theatre for the exhibition of local musicians, plays, and artists. It is unlikely that the production of plays is subject to any official censorship board as many of the comedy plays often make jokes about American politicians and even include characters that cross-dressed.
Satellite television is not illegal, but the rule is generally ignored and thus members of the middle class can gain access to less censored Arabic and English news and entertainment.
Civil Rights Laws
Saudi Arabia has no laws against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. An employer is certainly free to discriminate against a gay employee or subject them to blackmail. The exit and entry paperwork does not ask people about their sexual orientation, as it does their nationality, religion and marital status. No same-sex marriage, domestic partnership or civil union has any legal standing in the nation and may be used as evidence to initiate criminal proceedings.
AIDS/HIV
The government's official registry of people infected with the AIDS virus has been steadily increasing. In 2003 the government announced that it knew of 6,787 cases, and in 2004 the official number rose to 7,808. The government statistics claim that most of the registered cases are foreign males who contracted the disease through "forbidden" sexual relations.
Forigners are required to demonstrate that they are not infected with the virus before they can enter the nation, and are required to get a test every two years. Any foreigner that is discovered to be infected will be deported to the nation of origin as soon as they are deemed fit to travel. Foreigners are not given access to any AIDS medications and while awaiting deportation may be segregated from the rest of society .
Saudi citizens are given access to the latest AIDS treatment medications, regardless of their ability to pay. There is no recorded case of the government using the fact that a foreigner or citizen is infected with the virus as evidence that they violated the nation's laws against sodomy, adultery or fornication.
The government has produced AIDS education films and other materials, but schools and hospitals are reluctant to pass on information as to how the disease is spread. Ignorance about the disease is still common. Most of the nation's medical facilities are not equipped to provide proper treatment for the people infected with the virus, and the government is leery of endorsing any sort of "safer sex" campaign .
Saudi Gay and Lesbian Community
Officially, there is no gay or lesbian community because homosexuality is illegal. The strict laws against homosexuality stifle any overtly public gay and lesbian community or gay rights movement. Only the underground Green Party of Saudi Arabia has endorsed the gay rights movement and called for greater public openness about sexual orientation and gender identity issues.
In 2000 the government sentenced nine Saudi men to extensive prison terms with lashing for engaging in cross-dressing and homosexual relations. . That same year the government executed three Yemeni male workers for homosexuality and child molestation . Some officials within the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington D.C. have implied that homosexuals are only put to death when found to be convicted of child molestation, murder or engaging in anything deemed to be a form of political advocacy . For example, as recently as April 2005 the government convicted over a hundred men of homosexuality, but none were sentenced to be executed. All those men were given prison sentences with flogging because they were at a private party that was either a same-sex wedding ceremony or a birthday party . Yet, a gay couple was sentenced to death for homosexuality and allegedly killing a man who was blackmailing them for homosexuality.
There are rumors of the existence of an underground gay nightlife, along with certain cafes and even cruising spots for Saudi citizens that are part of a prosperous middle class. If this exists, then it is unofficial and segregated by sex, class and nationality.
