<<World Tribune.com--Front Page.url>>
ABU DHABI - Saudi Arabia is being urged to ban a new cellular phone that can
be used to take digital photographs.
The reason: Saudi men have been reported to use the high tech phones to
surreptitiously photograph women.
Religious police have already confiscated shipments of the new cellular
phones. Officials said Saudi women had complained that young Saudi men were
slipping the devices into facilities reserved for women and secretly taking
photographs, Middle East Newsline reported.
Religious police chief Ibrahim Al Ghaith, has urged the kingdom to ban the
phones. The phones are being distributed by numerous dealers, including
Saudi Ericsson, where they are said to be a popular item among Saudi men.
Saudi officials do not expect a decision to ban the cellular phones.
They are capable of taking more than 280 digital photographs and cost more
than $400.
One concern is that Saudi men have slipped the cellular phones into wedding
halls reserved for women. Saudi Arabia is a segregated society and women in
public are completely covered by a veil and robe.
Authorities said they would arrest those using the cellular phones to
photograph women. So far, no arrests have been reported. Saudi clerics and
their supporters have tried to ban developments in technology on grounds
that they could be used to violate Islamic law. These include such
appliances as telephones, mobile phones, satellite television and the
Internet.
"Of course it may be misused by some wicked people but they are very small
in number," Saudi analyst Ahmad Al Sinani told the English-language Arab
News. "We should not exaggerate things."
Received on Tue Jul 2 16:37:16 2002