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May 27, 2007
Christian Arrested for Entering Muslim Only City
Maybe the Sri Lankan Christian missed the prominent highway signs warning non-Muslims to stay off the Saudi highways leading to Mecca. Perhaps Nirosh Kmanda, found while hawking goods in Mecca, hadn't intended to challenge Muslim apartheid, but was merely trying to eke out a living. The Christian was nevertheless arrested for daring to step on holy Muslim soil. The Jerusalem Post reports:
After running his fingerprints through a new security system, Saudi police discovered that he was a Christian who had arrived in the country six months earlier to take a job as a truck driver in the city of Dammam. Kamanda had subsequently left his place of work and moved to Mecca.
"The Grand Mosque and the holy city are forbidden to non-Muslims," Col. Suhail Matrafi, head of the department of Expatriates Affairs in Mecca, told the Saudi daily Arab News. "The new fingerprints system is very helpful and will help us a lot to discover the identity of a lot of criminals," he said.
Similar restrictions apply to the Saudi city of Medina. In a section entitled, "Traveler's Information," the Web site of the Saudi Embassy in Washington states that, "Mecca and Medina hold special religious significance and only persons of the Islamic faith are allowed entry."
Highway signs at the entrance to Mecca also direct non-Muslims away from the city's environs.
Sadly, apartheid roads do indeed exist in the Middle East.
Posted by TS at May 27, 2007 05:25 AM
Comments
In the Vatican City, only Christians are allowed into St. Peter's Basilica. Tit for tat.
Posted by: Modemac at May 27, 2007 09:33 AM
not true about the Vatican.There are also cities in Morocco that only Muslims may spend the night.
Posted by: mbrandi at May 27, 2007 06:44 PM
People with tunnel vision see only what they want to.
Posted by: Iqbal Khaldun at May 29, 2007 04:35 AM
In the entire country of Morocco a non muslim can enter only one Mosque...Hassan 2.Non muslims are not allowed to spend the night in Moulay idris.
Posted by: mbrandi at June 3, 2007 02:36 PM
"In the Vatican City, only Christians are allowed into St. Peter's Basilica. Tit for tat." This is a lie. I'm not Christian and I have visited.
Posted by: Peter Li at September 18, 2007 07:23 AM
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