Saudis arrest Filipino Catholics at mass—report

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From the Manila Inquirer:

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi police raided a secret Catholic mass in Riyadh last week and arrested a dozen Filipinos and a Catholic priest, charging them with prosyletising, a local daily reported on Wednesday.

The raid took place as some 150 Filipinos were attending the mass in a Riyadh rest house on Friday, the second day of the weekend in Saudi Arabia, Arab News said.
Just makes me far more motivated to support the Ground Zero Cordoba House…:rolleyes:
 
What the article doesn’t make clear is whether the police involved were regular cops or whether they were the muttawa or religious police. The muttawa have been involved in similar arrests in Riyadh in the past and are known for their zealotry.
asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=5869&size=
The Mutaween in Saudi Arabia are tasked with enforcing Sharia as defined by the government, specifically by the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPVPV). The Mutaween of the CPVPV consists of “more than 3,500 officers in addition to thousands of volunteers…often accompanied by a police escort.” They have the power to arrest unrelated males and females caught socializing, anyone engaged in homosexual behavior or prostitution; to enforce Islamic dress-codes, and store closures during the prayer time. They enforce Muslim dietary laws, prohibit the consumption or sale of alcoholic beverages and pork, and seize banned consumer products and media regarded as un-Islamic (such as CDs/DVDs of various Western musical groups, television shows and film). Additionally, they actively prevent the practice or proselytizing of other religions within Saudi Arabia, where they are banned.[3][4]
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Among the things the Mutaween have been criticized or ridiculed for include, use of flogging to punish violators,[5][6] banning Valentines Day gifts,[7][8] arresting priests for saying Mass,[9] and being staffed by “ex-convicts whose only job qualification was that they had memorized the Qur’an in order to reduce their sentences.”[10]
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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutaween
 
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