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Saudi Arabian Teen Arrested For Online Videos With American Blogger (theguardian.com)

Mazin Sidahmed and Nicky Woolf, reporting for The Guardian: A male Saudi Arabian teenager has been arrested in Riyadh over a series of online videos of conversations between him and a female Californian streaming-video star that went viral. A Riyadh police spokesperson, Colonel Fawaz Al-Mayman, said the teenager, known online as Abu Sin, was arrested on Sunday for engaging in "unethical behaviour" in videos with Christina Crockett, a popular broadcaster on the conversational live-streaming site YouNow. Abu Sin's real name is not known. "His videos received many comments and many of the commenters of the general public demanded for him to be punished for his actions," Al-Maymann added, according to the Saudi Gazette. The two amassed thousands of fans on the YouNow network, and later on YouTube after videos of the two speaking were uploaded there. The videos featured Abu Sin -- a nickname given to him for his broken teeth -- and Crockett communicating despite their significant language barriers. The popularity of the videos of the two of them surprised Crockett, she told the Guardian in an interview. As a broadcaster on YouNow, she can invite her fans to join her broadcasts on split-screen, which is known as "guesting."

16 of 213 comments (clear)

  1. oh my god! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    He talked with a woman! Unclean! Unclean!

  2. SJW by Major+Blud · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is the sort of thing that SJW's should be fighting against......instead they decide to focus their efforts on restricting speech in some of the most liberal places on Earth.

    --
    If you post as Anonymous Coward, don't expect a reply.
    1. Re:SJW by The-Ixian · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Because they are mutually exclusive? That's kind of a myopic view of the world you have there...

      --
      My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
    2. Re:SJW by ScentCone · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Meanwhile on Slashdot the only people actually acting like SJWs are the people who use the term SJW...

      No. Calling out liberal totalitarians is not the same as seeking to actually DO the things (like squelching speech through the power of government) that liberal totalitarians actually do. Though you are performing the approved-by-liberal-elites correct response to being called out - immediately lie about it in hopes that will deflect reality.

      --
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    3. Re:SJW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No, it's because SJWs seem to have all the energy in the world to fight windmill giants like microagressions and the Patriarchy (insert x-files tune here), but yet there are nowhere to be seen when it comes to legitimate instances oppression. SJWs are not about doing the "right thing" (tm), they are about experiencing the moral gratification without doing any of the hard work required.

      Oh and #notallsjws

  3. Re:So? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So they had conversation. So what is the problem?

    Islam

  4. Re:The Saudi government is barbaric by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Saudi Arabia will never have to change as long as they have oil. Everyone is too busy kissing their asses to keep that sweet crude coming.

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    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  5. Re:What did he do? by cecurry · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yeah, how could anyone "want" to live where their family is and their entire genetic line has existed for several millennia? Why don't they just pack up and move someplace better? Because it's easy.

  6. this is a cultural issue, not a technology issue. by nimbius · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I think its terrible and I dont think he deserves it

    which is a pretty reasonable response, but what most Americans don't understand or for that matter tend to respect are cultural differences. Theyre quick to point out the injustice of the Saudi criminal code yet conveniently overlook the fact that it is a criminal offence to dance at the Jefferson Memorial, or that until 1967 interracial marriages were illegal in a plurality of states. Transgender Americans can still face prosecution for simply using the toilet in 5 states, and it wasnt until 2015 that gays could be married in the land of the free.

    Abu Sin knew what he was doing. Sometimes incarceration is a risk you take to try and make a cultural change or statement.

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
  7. Re:The Saudi government is barbaric by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Oppression isn't something a person decides they're in favor of. Oppression is something a person is told they're in favor of. Then, they simply parrot it.

  8. Re:this is a cultural issue, not a technology issu by wbr1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Abu Sin knew what he was doing. Sometimes incarceration is a risk you take to try and make a cultural change or statement.

    Abu Sin was a young boy talking to a woman. To say he fully understood the ramifications of his actions is absurd. He almost certainly knew it was a social taboo, but to say he was trying to make cultural change is really stretching. We do not know his intentions, but Occam says hormonal teenager trumps activist any day.

    That said, this probably happens quite a bit with teenagers, just not out in the open. Then, afterwards, after the physical and mental scarring endured, these young men learn hate. And that hate is not towards his oppressors, the regime and religion that beat him down. Instead it is twisted at women or those who do as they did, that they should suffer the same punishments. This is how these types of systems stay in place and prosper.

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    Silence is a state of mime.
  9. Meddling [Re:SJW] by Tablizer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It may be a matter of not sticking ones nose in another country's business: fix our own backyard first.

    Meddling in the Middle East just seems to make things worse. If they wanna be medieval and keep resisting modernization, there should come a point where we give up trying to modernize them and instead focus on issues closer to home.

  10. Re:So....why was he arrested? by Snufu · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Christina: 'Today we are having our follow up split-screen live stream with Abu Sin in Riyahd. What up Abu!'
    Abu appears in the split screen. He is in the middle of a public square, his hands are bound to a pole and his shirt is removed. In the background is crowd of onlookers and a large masked man in black unrolling a whip.
    Abu: 'Whassup Christina Just chillin since our last stream, Yo!'
    Christina: 'Cool. Do you like Beyonce?'
    Abu: 'Totally, but my AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.... favorite is Justin Beiber.'

  11. Re: So? by slasher999 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Islam isn't a race, so not it's not.

  12. Re:The Saudi government is barbaric by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The problem with that bill is very simple- what's stopping other countries from passing the same stupid law in their country so their citizens can sue Americans?
    Nada.
    So, in crossing that Rubicon first, we just green-lighted everyone else to do the same.

  13. Re:What did he do? by thegarbz · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Because it's easy.

    You're going for facetious but you're right on point. It IS that easy. The world is a small tiny place. Until we start colonising Mars we're barely 30h worth of travel distance from anyone at any given time. If the goal is to simply get away from a shithole, heck you can do that in 4-5 hours for most of them.

    I personally really don't understand the obsession people have with a place. It's just a place. There are many places in the world each with their own benefits. If one isn't completely happy with where they are, go someplace else.

    By the way, greetings from the Netherlands. An awesome country which I didn't grow up in, don't have any family in and don't have a genetic line relating back to. I do miss my sister, so I called her up a few days ago and then booked a flight. Going to have a fun weekend abroad next week.