VZCZCXRO7114
PP RUEHDE
DE RUEHJI #0274/01 0990717
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 090717Z APR 06
FM AMCONSUL JEDDAH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9024
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 1331
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1409
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 6375
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JEDDAH 000274 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
RIYADH, PLEASE PASS TO DHAHRAN; DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP; 
PARIS FOR ZEYA; LONDON FOR TSOU 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/04/2015 
TAGS: ELAB KISL KWMN PHUM PREL SA SCUL
SUBJECT: JEDDAH JOURNAL 10 - FEMALE MORAL POLICE, OIC-OSCE 
MEETING, HONORARY MUSLIM, MORE ON WOMEN DRIVING, AND LITTLE 
CHARITY FOR AILING DOMESTICS 
 
 
Classified By: Consul General Tatiana Gfoeller, for 
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
WOMEN MAY SOON BE PERMITTED TO GUIDE THE PEOPLE IN VIRTUE 
 
¶1.  (C) The Saudi Arabian Department for the Promotion of 
Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Note:  The employees of this 
department are the mutawaa'in, the moral police who patrol 
the Kingdom's cities and towns enforcing their idea of proper 
Islamic behavior on the population.  End Note.) has announced 
that it is "considering" hiring women as "cooperative 
members."  The department and the Institute of Promotion of 
Virtue and Prevention of Vice, Um Olqura University in Mecca, 
are considering a special training program for women so that 
they will be qualified to work for the department. 
 
OIC SECRETARY GENERAL AND OSCE SECRETARY GENERAL AGREE ON 
DIALOGUE 
 
¶2.  (U) In a press release dated March 25, the Organization 
of the Islamic Conference (OIC) announced that Secretary 
General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu had met for the first time in 
Jeddah with Ambassador Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, Secretary 
General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in 
Europe (OSCE).  The two leaders discussed developments 
following the "printing of the blasphemous, insulting and 
provocative caricatures and the imperatives needed to 
initiate various confidence-building measures between the 
Muslim World and the West."  The meeting concluded with an 
agreement to "undertake joint activities focusing upon 
tolerance, Islamophobia and an effective dialogue between the 
West and the Muslim World." 
 
HONORARY MUSLIM RESIDED IN MECCA 
 
¶3.  (C) It has become commonplace in recent years for female 
diplomats and VIP visitors to be accorded the status of 
honorary males, allowing them to enter places normally 
prohibited to women.  Pol/Econ Chief recently learned that 
there have been instances in which Saudi concessions to 
useful visitors have gone even farther.  At a recent 
reception at the CGR sponsored by the American Businessmen of 
Jeddah (ABJ), Pol/Econ Chief spoke with an American citizen 
who had resided in the Kingdom since 1979.  The individual 
claimed that even though he is not a Muslim, he had lived for 
much of his first eight years in the Kingdom in the forbidden 
city of Mecca.  Involved in construction management during a 
period of unprecedented growth, he confided that it suited 
the government's purpose that he work in Mecca, so they 
simply issued him an iqama that stated he was a Muslim and no 
questions were ever raised. 
 
PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN TO PREPARE PUBLIC FOR WOMEN DRIVERS 
 
¶4.  (U) It appears that efforts are underway to prepare the 
public to accept women driving.  In Al Watan newspaper on 
March 31, an article appeared recounting a study by four 
university professors in Riyadh stating that one of the major 
causes of traffic accidents is the prohibition on women 
driving.  The conclusion of the report is that since women 
are not allowed to drive, their children or underage family 
members are compelled to drive.  According to the report, 
these drivers lack experience and judgment and cause many 
accidents. 
 
¶5.  (U)  It seems more than a coincidence that the April 4 
edition of the Jeddah-based English-language "Arab News" 
carried a story date-lined Jeddah stating that many Saudi 
women drive in surrounding countries.  In the story the 
Director General of Traffic in Bahrain said that Bahrain had 
issued 1,107 driving licenses to Saudi women.  He went on to 
relate that they were happy to have the Saudi women driving 
on the island.  "Despite the presence of a large number of 
Saudi women drivers in Bahrain, not a single case of traffic 
violation had been registered against them."  In contrast to 
this sterling record, he reported that in the last five 
months, Saudi men drivers had been involved in 38 traffic 
accidents, including two fatalities. 
 
¶6.  (U) This publicity campaign may already be bearing fruit. 
 The "Saudi Gazette" on the same day carried a short article 
 
JEDDAH 00000274  002 OF 002 
 
 
noting that Riyadh police had arrested a couple in a car, 
because the woman was driving.  The couple attracted the 
attention of the police because the woman was also unveiled 
and her long hair was visible. 
 
DOMESTIC WORKER SEEKS MERCY WHERE SHE CAN 
 
¶7.  (C)  During the recent National Day celebration at the 
CGR, the wife of an American citizen couple described to 
Pol/Econ Chief the complicated relationship between 
expatriate domestic workers, the Saudi authorities, and their 
former employers.  She told of a former Asian domestic who 
had left their service some years earlier to work for a Saudi 
family.  Recently the domestic had contacted the American 
woman for help.  She had developed pleurisy and had been 
dismissed by her current employer.  This had rendered her a 
non-person to the authorities and she could not get a 
hospital to admit her.  The American felt morally bound to 
assist the woman, and had spent several days helping the 
woman to enter a hospital, communicate with her consulate and 
arrange matters with the relevant Saudi authorities, who 
simply ignored the unfortunate woman. 
 
¶8.  (C) The American and her husband, both Muslims, deplored 
the treatment of domestics both by their Saudi employers, who 
were all too likely to dismiss them when they proved a 
liability, and the Saudi authorities, who callously ignore 
foreign workers who become inconvenient.  The American woman 
observed that the servant was no longer their responsibility, 
but they could not ignore her and let her die on the streets. 
 Consequently, as the couple prepared to leave the National 
Day celebration at 10:00 P.M. they were going to stop at the 
hospital to see to the woman's condition and the next day 
would be spent at a foreign consulate and in Saudi agencies 
to see what could be done for the ailing woman. 
Gfoeller