Saudi says US human trafficking criticism unfounded

[Rose Siding]

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia said on Saturday it strongly disagreed with a U.S. report naming it as a top offender in human trafficking, a step which in theory might lead to sanctions against the world's biggest oil exporter.

A State Department report on Friday said victims in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were forced to become domestic servants, labourers and prostitutes and even boy camel jockeys as young as three.

"We are surprised by the contents of the report, and we disagree with most of what has been mentioned," said Prince Torki bin Mohammed bin Saud al-Kabeer, undersecretary for political affairs at the Saudi Foreign Ministry.

"The rules and regulations of Saudi Arabia prohibit exploitation and trafficking of people. Our religion also does not accept this," he told Reuters.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=8696488&src=rss/ElectionCoverage

[Fleshdancer]

1. Let me guess...

They think the report was "absurd" and "offensive"? Imagine that.

[Supersedeas]

6. Absurd, offensive and repulsive....reprehensible

[sam sarrha]

2. if you just buy a 5 year old in slave market,stolen from Moors in Dakar..

who is to know if you are a psychotic pedifile... or just need a housekeeper/sex object.

they had an 'Open'Arab slave market along the street in Dakar, Senigal. In 73 when i was there in the Peace Corps.. it is still there.. http://merip.org/mer/mer234/mer234.html ..article at the bottom of the list center page

[Ian David]

3. We need to re-direct the energy of the anti-gay people to deal with this

Get them focused on something productive for a change.

[Yupster]

4. My favorite site for Islamic info is

www.askimam.com

It's a site where anyne can ask Islamic religious leaders to answer their questions. Pretty interesting to go searching through. A lot of the questions come from Islamic immigrants to Western countries who ask questions on how they can keep their religious beliefs and way of ife within the Western society. Most questions are very specific. Pretty interesting.

Anyway, here was a more general question regarding slavery and Islam. It's pretty long but pretty interesting too.

Here's the answer ...

http://www.islam.tc/ask-imam/view.php?q=14421

This is the part about slavery today

"One question that still remains is whether slavery still legally prevails anywhere in the Islamic world and whether it can be successfully implemented in this age. Well, there is no prevalence of lawful slavery in the Islamic world today and it would be difficult to implement it because of the stringent conditions attached to it. Firstly, the prisoners have to be captured in 'Jihaad' in the true sense of the word. Then again, If true 'Jihaad' did break out somewhere, there are still a number of other laws and conditions to abide by which are far too stringent for any Islamic country in the world to abide by in this time and age when people's personal gains and whims and desire are being given preference to over Islamic Law."

[LuPeRcALiO]

5. let me guess what the US "sanctions" could be:

cutting back on humanitarian assistance from NGOs?