Princess: Stepping Out of the Shadows, стр. 74
22 June
. Four women and eleven men are arrested, tried and convicted for mixing at a party. They are sentenced to flogging and prison terms.
15 August
. Ghazi al-Gosaibi, a Saudi statesman and poet, dies from colon cancer after a long illness. Al-Gosaibi was close to the ruling family, although his writings were banned in the kingdom for most of his life. The Saudi Culture Ministry lifted the ban on his writings the month before his death, citing his contribution to the nation.
26 August
. T. Ariyawathi, a housemaid from Sri Lanka working in Saudi Arabia, is admitted to hospital for surgery to remove twenty-four nails embedded in her body. Her Saudi employer hammered the nails into her as punishment.
17 November
. King Abdullah steps down as head of the country’s National Guard. His son assumes the position.
20 November
. A young woman in her twenties defies the kingdom’s driving ban and accidentally overturns her car. She dies, along with three female friends who were passengers.
22 November
. King Abdullah visits New York for medical treatment and temporarily hands control to Crown Prince Sultan, his half-brother.
23 November
. Saudi media announces that a Saudi woman accused of torturing her Indonesian maid has been sent to jail, while the maid, Sumiati Binti Salan Mustapa, is receiving hospital treatment for burns and broken bones.
An estimated four million Saudi women over the age of twenty are unmarried in a country of 24.6 million. It is reported that some male guardians forcibly keep women single, a practice known as
adhl
. The guardians have the right to keep the salaries of the women for themselves. Saudi feminist Wajeha al-Huwaider describes male guardianship as ‘a form of slavery’.
2011
16 January
. A group of Saudi activists launches ‘My Country’, a campaign to push the kingdom to allow women to run in municipal elections scheduled for spring 2011.
24 January
. New York-based Human Rights Watch says in its World Report 2011 that Saudi Arabia’s government is harassing and jailing activists, often without trial, for speaking out in favour of expanding religious tolerance and that new restrictions on electronic communication in the kingdom are severe.
9 February
. Ten moderate Saudi scholars ask the king for recognition of their Uma Islamic Party, the kingdom’s first political party.
15 February
. The Education Ministry says the kingdom plans to remove books that encourage terrorism or defame religion from school libraries.
24 February
. Influential intellectuals say in a statement that Arab rulers should derive a lesson from the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, and listen to the voice of disenchanted young people.
5 March
. Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry says demonstrations won’t be tolerated and its security forces will act against anyone taking part in them.
11 March
. Hundreds of police are deployed in the capital to prevent protests calling for democratic reforms inspired by the wave of unrest sweeping the Arab world.
18 March
. King Abdullah promises Saudi citizens a multi-billion-dollar package of reforms, wage rises, cash, loans and apartments in what appears to be the Arab world’s most expensive attempt to appease residents inspired by the unrest that has swept two regional leaders from power.
22 May
. Saudi authorities rearrest activist Manal al-Sharif, who defied a ban on female drivers. She had been detained for several hours by the country’s religious police and released after she’d signed a pledge agreeing not to drive. Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that bans women, both Saudi and foreign, from driving.
18 June
. Ruyati binti Satubi, an Indonesian grandmother, is beheaded for killing an allegedly abusive Saudi employer.
28 June
. Saudi police detain one woman for driving in Jeddah. Four other women accused of driving are later detained in the city.
25 September
. King Abdullah announces that the nation’s women will gain the right to vote and run as candidates in local elections to be held in 2015 in a major advance for the rights of women.
27 September
. Saudi female Shaima Jastaina is sentenced to be lashed ten times for defying the kingdom’s prohibition on driving. King Abdullah quickly overturns the court ruling.
29 September
. Saudi Arabian men cast ballots in local council elections, the second-ever nationwide vote. Women are not allowed to vote. The councils are one of the few elected bodies in the country, but have no real power, mandated to offer advice to provincial authorities.
Manssor Arbabsiar, a US citizen holding an Iranian passport, is arrested when he arrives at New York’s Kennedy International Airport. Mexico worked closely with US authorities to help foil an alleged $1.5 million plot to kill the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Washington. On 11 October, Arbabsiar is charged in the US District Court in New York with conspiring to kill Saudi diplomat Adel al-Jubeir.
22 October.
Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, heir to the Saudi throne, dies in the United States. He had been receiving treatment for colon cancer, first diagnosed in 2009.
27 October.
Saudi Arabia’s powerful interior minister, Prince Naif bin Abdul Aziz, is named the new heir to the throne in a royal decree read out on Saudi state television.
30 November
. Amnesty International publishes a new report accusing Saudi Arabia of conducting
a campaign of repression against protesters and reformists since the Arab Spring erupted.
6 December
. Saudi Arabia sentences an Australian man to 500 lashes and a year in jail after being found guilty of blasphemy. Mansor Almaribe was detained in Medina on 14 November while making the hajj pilgrimage and accused of insulting companions of the Prophet Mohammed.
10 December
. Saudi Arabia’s
Okaz
newspaper reports that a man convicted of raping his daughter has been sentenced to receive 2,080 lashes over the course of a thirteen-year prison term. A court in Mecca found the man guilty of raping his teenage daughter for seven years while under the influence of drugs.
12 December
. Saudi authorities execute a woman convicted of