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<P
class=MsoNormal><st1:country-region><st1:place>Jordan</st1:place></st1:country-region>
Times</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><st1:date Year="2002" Day="21" Month="3"><STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Thursday, March 21, 2002</SPAN></STRONG></st1:date></P>
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<H3>Saudi editor fired, writer jailed for scathing poem </H3></TD></TR>
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<P class=MsoNormal>DUBAI (AP) — A poet who penned a scathing criticism of
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Saudi
Arabia</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s Islamic judges has been jailed
and the newspaper editor who published the poem fired, a Saudi official
said Wednesday. </P>
<P>Prince Nayef, the interior minister, ordered Mohammad Mokhtar Al Fal,
editor-in-chief of the Arabic-language Al Madina, to be fired a few days
after the poem, titled “The Corrupt on Earth,” appeared March 10, said the
official, who spoke on customary condition of anonymity. </P>
<P>The poet, Abdul Mohsen Musalam, was jailed, the official said. It was
not clear what he was charged with or whether he would be formally tried.
</P>
<P>In a country where dissent is not tolerated, Musalam's poem accused the
Islamic judges of taking bribes and ruling unjustly to please “tyrants.”
</P>
<P>“It is sad that in the Muslim world, justice is suffering from a few
judges who care for nothing but their bank accounts and their status with
the rulers,” the poem's introduction read. </P>
<P>The judicial system in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Saudi
Arabia</st1:place></st1:country-region> is based on Sharia, or Islamic
law. A judge or panel of judges hears a case, cross-examines the defendant
and possible witnesses, and pronounces the verdicts and the sentence. </P>
<P>Unlike Western courts, the accused are not defended by lawyers, except
in very rare cases where Westerners are involved and the conservative
kingdom is worried about international opinion. </P>
<P>Musalam, a former editor at the English-Language Saudi Gazette, took
his title from the Koran, which rules that “the corrupt on earth” must be
put to death. </P>
<P>The poem reads, in part: “How many (sacred) verses and sayings you have
slaughtered. </P>
<P>“Your beards are smeared with blood. </P>
<P>“You indulge a thousand tyrants and tyrant and only him do you obey.”
</P>
<P>Al Fal could not be reached for comment, and an official at the paper
refused to comment, saying only that “the poem was published, that's that,
and Al Fal is no longer with us.” </P>
<P>Al Madina, like most other Saudi newspapers, is government-controlled.
</P>
<P>Criticising judges and other religious authorities is rare in the
conservative Muslim kingdom. </P>
<P>Last week, Saudi newspapers launched an unprecedented attack on members
of the religious police — the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and
the Prevention of Vice, accusing them of blocking rescue attempts by male
firefighters and paramedics at a fire in a school for girls in
<st1:City><st1:place>Mecca</st1:place></st1:City>, western
<st1:country-region><st1:place>Saudi
Arabia</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></P>
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<H3>'Editor of weekly to be released on bail bond' </H3>
<P>By Saad G. Hattar </P></TD></TR>
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<P class=MsoNormal><st1:City><st1:place>AMMAN</st1:place></st1:City> — Al
Bilad weekly editor-in-chief Hashem Khalidi is to be released from
detention today, three days after he was detained on charges of publishing
“false information,” a judicial source said. </P>
<P>“We set a JD1,000 bail bond on Wednesday for the release of Khalidi,
but his lawyers did not show up in time to finalise the legal procedures,”
the source told The Jordan Times. </P>
<P>Al Bilad's publisher Tajeddin Hroub was released without bail on
Tuesday after he spent 24 hours in detention for questioning in connection
with the charges against his colleague. No charges were brought against
Hroub. </P>
<P>Khalidi was detained on Sunday for 15 days pending trial on charges of
“publishing false material deemed harmful to the country's reputation and
that of its citizens.” </P>
<P>Al Bilad published an article last week in which it accused officials
of doubling vehicle insurance premiums earlier this month for personal
gain. </P>
<P>Former Deputy (1993-97) Toujan Faisal, in jail since Saturday, made
similar accusations against the government on an Internet site and in
interviews with Arab television networks. </P>
<P>By press time Wednesday, Faisal's lawyers were still trying to win her
release. </P>
<P>An initial bail request for Faisal was rejected on Saturday. Her
lawyers submitted a second bail request the next day but the
<st1:Street><st1:address>State Security Court</st1:address></st1:Street>
has not yet responded. </P>
<P>Faisal is reportedly still on a hunger strike in protest against her
detention.</P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>_____________<BR>Lutfi M. Hussein<BR>Department of English<BR>Arizona State
University<BR>Tempe, AZ 85287-0302, USA<BR>Email address: <A
href="mailto:lutfi.hussein@asu.edu">lutfi.hussein@asu.edu</A><BR>Homepage: <A
href="http://www.public.asu.edu/~lutfiawa/">http://www.public.asu.edu/~lutfiawa/</A></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>